← Back to dex
Common star 18 EP

HIP 56905

RA 174.9751° · Dec 59.6939° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M1 — 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 11.6 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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. ≈ 2.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 200.3 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
8.617
bv
1.36
constellation
UMa
dist ly
128.2563
luminosity
0.0311
mag
11.59
name
HIP 56905
spect
M1

About HIP 56905

HIP 56905 is a common star. It lies about 128.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 11.59 and has spectral type M1.

Its spectrum reads M1 — 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 HIP 56905 in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 11.59, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 56905 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 HIP 56905 is a common star

HIP 56905 scores 18 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Cool red M-type star and Red dwarf — 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.