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Common star 19 EP

HD 105663

RA 182.4738° · Dec 39.4335° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
19 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Deep red star +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 19

3 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 4.7 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K4IV — 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 subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Canes Venatici.
  • 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.

Its true colour

  • Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 1.6) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3710 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-11.84
bv
1.56
constellation
CVn
luminosity
4742419.8526
mag
8.16
name
HD 105663
spect
K4IV

Nearby objects

About HD 105663

HD 105663 is a common star. It sits in the constellation CVn, shines at apparent magnitude 8.16 and has spectral type K4IV.

Its spectrum reads K4IV — 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 105663 in the constellation CVn. At apparent magnitude 8.16, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 105663 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 105663 is a common star

HD 105663 scores 19 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Orange K-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) and Deep red 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.