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Common star 21 EP

HD 106742

RA 184.1597° · Dec -63.1979° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
21 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Under the Southern Cross +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 21

1 more point to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Under the Southern Cross · +8
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G0V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

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 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Crux.
  • Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
  • 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. ≈ 4.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.691
bv
0.6
constellation
Cru
dist ly
233.9713
luminosity
7.3047
mag
6.97
name
HD 106742
spect
G0V

About HD 106742

HD 106742 is a common star. It lies about 234 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cru, shines at apparent magnitude 6.97 and has spectral type G0V.

Its spectrum reads G0V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 106742 in the constellation Cru. At apparent magnitude 6.97, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 106742 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 106742 is a common star

HD 106742 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 4 science badges — Star, Under the Southern Cross, Sun-like G-type star and Main-sequence 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.