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Trash star 13 EP

HR 5438

RA 218.7114° · Dec -20.4394° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
13 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • White A-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 13

2 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A3V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

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 6.5 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Libra.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south 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. ≈ 8.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.614
bv
0.139
constellation
Lib
dist ly
488.2575
luminosity
49.4766
mag
6.49
name
HR 5438
spect
A3V

About HR 5438

HR 5438 is a trash star. It lies about 488.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Lib, shines at apparent magnitude 6.49 and has spectral type A3V.

Its spectrum reads A3V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for HR 5438 in the constellation Lib. At apparent magnitude 6.49, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 5438 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 HR 5438 is a trash star

HR 5438 scores 13 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, White A-type star and Main-sequence 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.