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Rare star 41 EP

HD 100236

RA 173.0150° · Dec 18.1551° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
41 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 41

9 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10

Trivia

What it actually is

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

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 7.8 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. ≈ 53.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 4.8 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-2.013
bv
1.45
constellation
Leo
dist ly
3048.1868
luminosity
556.1603
mag
7.84
name
HD 100236
spect
M...

About HD 100236

HD 100236 is a rare star. It lies about 3,048.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Leo, shines at apparent magnitude 7.84 and has spectral type M....

Its spectrum reads M... — 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 HD 100236 in the constellation Leo. At apparent magnitude 7.84, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 100236 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 100236 is a rare star

HD 100236 scores 41 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Deep red star, Red dwarf and Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) — 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.