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Common star 17 EP

HD 120996

RA 208.0780° · Dec 32.8569° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

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

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G1III — 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 9.5 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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 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. ≈ 8.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
3.545
bv
0.568
constellation
CVn
dist ly
497.1889
luminosity
3.3266
mag
9.46
name
HD 120996
spect
G1III

About HD 120996

HD 120996 is a common star. It lies about 497.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation CVn, shines at apparent magnitude 9.46 and has spectral type G1III.

Its spectrum reads G1III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 120996 in the constellation CVn. At apparent magnitude 9.46, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 120996 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 120996 is a common star

HD 120996 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, 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.