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Uncommon star 23 EP

HD 90862

RA 157.4351° · Dec 16.9800° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K2 — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

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 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Leo.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north 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. ≈ 40.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 3.6 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-0.609
bv
1.47
constellation
Leo
dist ly
2329.6857
luminosity
152.616
mag
8.66
name
HD 90862
spect
K2

Nearby objects

About HD 90862

HD 90862 is an uncommon star. It lies about 2,329.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Leo, shines at apparent magnitude 8.66 and has spectral type K2.

Its spectrum reads K2 — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 90862 in the constellation Leo. At apparent magnitude 8.66, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 90862 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 90862 is an uncommon star

HD 90862 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 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Orange K-type 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.