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Common star 21 EP

HD 96234

RA 166.5313° · Dec 24.2272° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
21 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Bright giant +12
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 21

1 more point to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Bright giant · +12

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K0II — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • Where it is in life. It is a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.

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 8.5 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 March — 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. ≈ 8.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.708
bv
0.947
constellation
Leo
dist ly
474.0638
luminosity
7.1912
mag
8.52
name
HD 96234
spect
K0II

About HD 96234

HD 96234 is a common star. It lies about 474.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Leo, shines at apparent magnitude 8.52 and has spectral type K0II.

Its spectrum reads K0II — 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 96234 in the constellation Leo. At apparent magnitude 8.52, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 96234 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 96234 is a common star

HD 96234 scores 21 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Orange K-type star and Bright giant — 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.