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Uncommon star 25 EP

26 Com

RA 189.7805° · Dec 21.0626° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G9III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

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 5.5 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Coma Berenices.
  • 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. ≈ 4.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.873
bv
0.978
constellation
Com
dist ly
273.3915
luminosity
38.9762
mag
5.49
name
26 Com
spect
G9III

About 26 Com

26 Com is an uncommon star. It lies about 273.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Com, shines at apparent magnitude 5.49 and has spectral type G9III.

Its spectrum reads G9III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for 26 Com in the constellation Com. At apparent magnitude 5.49, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 26 Com 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 26 Com is an uncommon star

26 Com scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Sun-like G-type star and Giant 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.