Some K-class stars

At this point, we’re more than 20 light years out from Sol.  There are plenty of K-class orange dwarf stars out there, but there’s not much data easily available on those that aren’t our closest neighbours.  So as we proceed farther out, I’m going to do as I did with the red dwarfs and stop listing individual examples, unless there’s something special about one.  As a last hurrah, here’s information on a few orange dwarfs in the 20-25 light year range.  Nothing spectacular about any of them, but they’re all candidates for terrestrial planets:

HR 753

Also known as Gliese 105, this is another triple star, located in Cetus, about 23.5 light years from Sol.  A is a K3V orange dwarf.  B is a red dwarf some 1200 AU away, while C, a smaller red dwarf, is actually much closer at around 24 AU away.  There are no known planets and I don‘t know about their age or metallicity.

According to the Internet Stellar Database, the following stars are among those within 15 light years of HR 753: 107 Piscium (8 light years), HR 222 (11), 40 Eridani (12), Tau Ceti (14), Epsilon Eridani (14), Pi (3) Orionis (14).  If you’re looking for the capital of an interstellar empire that the first human explorers are going to encroach on, this is a good prospect.

HR 222

Also known as Gliese 33, this K2V orange dwarf in Pisces is 24.3 light years away and has a metallicity about half of Sol’s.  It has no known planets and I don‘t know how old it is.

107 Piscium

Around 6 billion years old, this is a K1V star about 24.5 light years away with a metallicity of 63%.  No known planets.

According to Solstation.com, it’s likely there are numerous K dwarf stars with 50 light years of Sol that haven’t been discovered yet!  So if you really have to locate one in a certain place and there isn’t one in the catalogues, you could probably get away with making one up, assuming you weren’t too precise about its location.