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Trash star 12 EP

GL Gl 168.2

RA 65.5559° · Dec 19.4868° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
12 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 12

3 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads m — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Inside our stellar backyard: every radio broadcast humanity has ever made has already swept past it.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 15.8 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Taurus.
  • 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 November — 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. ≈ 969.8 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 86.2 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
14.628
bv
1
constellation
Tau
dist ly
55.1872
luminosity
0.0001
mag
15.77
name
GL Gl 168.2
spect
m

About GL Gl 168.2

GL Gl 168.2 is a trash star. It lies about 55.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 15.77 and has spectral type m.

Its spectrum reads m — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for GL Gl 168.2 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 15.77, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 168.2 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 GL Gl 168.2 is a trash star

GL Gl 168.2 scores 12 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, On the zodiac and Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) — 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.