About Ross 686
Ross 686 is a trash star. It lies about 80 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Hya, shines at apparent magnitude 12.68 and has spectral type dM4.
Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Trash star 11 EP
Ross 686
RA 135.2101° · Dec 5.2420° · star
Score breakdown
· 2 badgesTrash 15 pts → Common
- Has a proper name +8
- Star +3
Total score 11
4 more points to reach Common.
Badges
- Star · +3
- Has a proper name · +8
Trivia
Could we get there?
- Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.
Getting there
- Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 1.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
- Fastest probe ever. ≈ 124.9 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
- At 10% light speed. ≈ 800 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
- Distance. 80 light-years from Earth.
Look-back time
- Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 1946.
Saying hello
- Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 160 years round-trip.
How we found it
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Properties
- absmag
- 10.732
- bv
- 1.47
- constellation
- Hya
- dist ly
- 79.9989
- mag
- 12.68
- name
- Ross 686
- named
- yes
- spect
- dM4
How to see it
Look for Ross 686 in the constellation Hya. At apparent magnitude 12.68, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, Ross 686 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 Ross 686 is a trash star
Ross 686 scores 11 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 2 science badges — Star and Has a proper name — 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.