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Uncommon star 33 EP

29Pi Leo

RA 150.0534° · Dec 8.0442° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
33 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 33

1 more point to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M2III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

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 4.7 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Leo.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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. ≈ 7.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.796
bv
1.589
constellation
Leo
dist ly
406.1719
luminosity
181.3009
mag
4.68
name
29Pi Leo
spect
M2III

About 29Pi Leo

29Pi Leo is an uncommon star. It lies about 406.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Leo, shines at apparent magnitude 4.68 and has spectral type M2III.

Its spectrum reads M2III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for 29Pi Leo in the constellation Leo. At apparent magnitude 4.68, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 29Pi Leo 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 29Pi Leo is an uncommon star

29Pi Leo 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 6 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Giant star and Deep red 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.