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Uncommon star 33 EP

Zhang

RA 147.8696° · Dec -14.8466° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
33 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 33

1 more point to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Has a proper name · +8
  • 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 4.1 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 4.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 412 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-0.43
bv
0.918
constellation
Hya
dist ly
263.8801
luminosity
129.4196
mag
4.11
name
Zhang
named
yes
spect
G6/G8III

About Zhang

Zhang is an uncommon star. It lies about 263.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Hya, shines at apparent magnitude 4.11 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 Zhang in the constellation Hya. At apparent magnitude 4.11, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, Zhang 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 Zhang is an uncommon star

Zhang scores 33 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Has a proper name, 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.