Common star 21 EP

HD 100179

RA 172.9652° · Dec 24.3114° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges

21 pts · Common

Common 22 pts → Uncommon

Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
Giant star +6
Star +3
On the zodiac +3
Orange K-type star +3

Total score 21

1 more point to reach Uncommon.

Badges

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

Trivia

What it actually is

Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K4III — 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 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 7.1 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 29.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag: -1.388
bv: 1.371
constellation: Leo
dist ly: 1655.6142
luminosity: 312.7519
mag: 7.14
name: HD 100179
spect: K4III

Nearby objects

About HD 100179

HD 100179 is a common star. It lies about 1,655.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Leo, shines at apparent magnitude 7.14 and has spectral type K4III.

Its spectrum reads K4III — 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 100179 in the constellation Leo. At apparent magnitude 7.14, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 100179 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 100179 is a common star

HD 100179 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 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Orange K-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.