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Common star 15 EP

HD 238008

RA 172.9810° · Dec 58.4309° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 15

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G5 — 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 8.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Ursa Major.
  • 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. ≈ 6.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 590.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
3.548
bv
0.604
constellation
UMa
dist ly
378.3713
luminosity
3.3174
mag
8.87
name
HD 238008
spect
G5

About HD 238008

HD 238008 is a common star. It lies about 378.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 8.87 and has spectral type G5.

Its spectrum reads G5 — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 238008 in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 8.87, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 238008 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 238008 is a common star

HD 238008 scores 15 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar) and Sun-like G-type 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.