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Uncommon star 23 EP

HD 78996

RA 137.7379° · Dec -12.6553° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G6/G8III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Hydra.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around February — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 36.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 3.2 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-0.851
bv
0.876
constellation
Hya
dist ly
2077.4268
luminosity
190.7217
mag
8.17
name
HD 78996
spect
G6/G8III

About HD 78996

HD 78996 is an uncommon star. It lies about 2,077.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Hya, shines at apparent magnitude 8.17 and has spectral type G6/G8III.

Its spectrum reads G6/G8III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 78996 in the constellation Hya. At apparent magnitude 8.17, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 78996 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why HD 78996 is an uncommon star

HD 78996 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Sun-like G-type star and Giant star — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.