← Back to dex
Trash star 13 EP

HR 5542

RA 223.1381° · Dec -30.5773° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 3 badges
13 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 13

2 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G0/G1V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

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 6.3 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Centaurus.
  • 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 May — 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. ≈ 2.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 199.3 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
3.337
bv
0.605
constellation
Cen
dist ly
127.6539
luminosity
4.029
mag
6.3
name
HR 5542
spect
G0/G1V

About HR 5542

HR 5542 is a trash star. It lies about 127.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cen, shines at apparent magnitude 6.3 and has spectral type G0/G1V.

Its spectrum reads G0/G1V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HR 5542 in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude 6.3, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 5542 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 5542 is a trash star

HR 5542 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 3 science badges — Star, Sun-like G-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.