← Back to dex
Trash star 12 EP

GL Gl 394

RA 157.6102° · Dec 56.0003° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
12 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 12

3 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K7 Ve — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

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 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Ursa Major.
  • 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 February — 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. ≈ 794.9 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 70.6 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
7.98
bv
1.33
constellation
UMa
dist ly
45.2365
luminosity
0.056
mag
8.69
name
GL Gl 394
spect
K7 Ve

About GL Gl 394

GL Gl 394 is a trash star. It lies about 45.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 8.69 and has spectral type K7 Ve.

Its spectrum reads K7 Ve — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for GL Gl 394 in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 8.69, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 394 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 394 is a trash star

GL Gl 394 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 4 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Orange K-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.