Common star 16 EP

HD 117653

RA 203.4482° · Dec -68.5190° · star

Loading sky survey…

🌌 View in 3D star map

Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 3 badges

16 pts · Common

Common 22 pts → Uncommon

Sun-like G-type star +8
Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
Star +3

Total score 16

6 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

Star · +3
Sun-like G-type star · +8
Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G1IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
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.

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 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Musca.
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 April — 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. ≈ 5.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag: 3.901
bv: 0.63
constellation: Mus
dist ly: 302.8375
luminosity: 2.3966
mag: 8.74
name: HD 117653
spect: G1IV

Nearby objects

About HD 117653

HD 117653 is a common star. It lies about 302.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Mus, shines at apparent magnitude 8.74 and has spectral type G1IV.

Its spectrum reads G1IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 117653 in the constellation Mus. At apparent magnitude 8.74, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 117653 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 117653 is a common star

HD 117653 scores 16 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Sun-like G-type star and Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) — 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.