For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn is a great time to wander through the southern reaches of the sky and appreciate the stars of Sculptor. One of its most familiar treasures is the Silver Coin Galaxy, which I recently photographed. Tonight, after observing the orange binary HD 3605, I turned to HD 3074 — a tighter binary star.
The primary shines at magnitude 6.64. Classified as a G3IV subgiant, it’s just a bit cooler and slightly redder than our Sun. Its companion is dimmer, with a magnitude of 8.46. And while HD 3605’s components are a generous 47 arcseconds apart, the stars in HD 3074 sit 4.38 arcseconds from each other. Resolving them requires a modest telescope and steady skies.
According to Stelle Doppie, this distant pair lies about 108 light-years away and was first recorded in 1835.
My Observations
| Date | November 14, 2025 |
| Time | 8:15 p.m. |
| Location | Tampa, FL |
| Magnification | 169x |
| Scope | Meade 8″ SCT |
| Eyepiece | 12mm |
| Seeing | Average |
| Transparency | Average |
The primary shines a lovely butter-yellow in my view, while the dimmer companion is fairly easy to spot at 169x magnification and appears white. As I study this pair, I’m struck by how their brightness feels similar to the stars in HD 3605. Yet HD 3605 lies nearly 900 light-years away, while this pair is much closer at just 108 light-years. It’s a humbling reminder that stars can look alike to our eyes, yet exist in such different corners of the universe.
Key Stats
| Constellation | Sculptor |
| Best Viewing | Autumn |
| Visual Magnitude | +6.64 | +8.46 |
| Separation | 4.38″ |
| Position Angle | 170.6° |
| Distance | 108 light-years |
| Milky Way Location | Orion Spur |
| My Viewing Grade | B |
| Designations | SAO 192609, HIP 2663, GC 668 |
Sources and Notes
Stelle Doppie. (n.d.). Double Star Database. https://www.stelledoppie.it/index2.php?iddoppia=2282
Sketch by Wayne McGraw
The Garden Astronomer 
One thought on “HD 3074: A Buttery-Yellow Binary Star in Sculptor”