← Back to dex
Trash star 14 EP

GL Gl 838.1A

RA 327.2998° · Dec 5.7223° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
14 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Binary star +6
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 14

1 more point to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What makes it special

  • Not one star but two. It is a binary: two stars orbiting a shared centre of mass. More than half of all the 'stars' you can see are actually multiple systems.

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K3 V — 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 Pegasus.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around August — 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. ≈ 1.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
6.714
binary
yes
bv
1.04
constellation
Peg
dist ly
79.5501
luminosity
0.1796
mag
8.65
name
GL Gl 838.1A
spect
K3 V

About GL Gl 838.1A

GL Gl 838.1A is a trash star. It lies about 79.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Peg, shines at apparent magnitude 8.65 and has spectral type K3 V.

It is a binary: two stars orbiting a shared centre of mass. More than half of all the 'stars' you can see are actually multiple systems.

How to see it

Look for GL Gl 838.1A in the constellation Peg. At apparent magnitude 8.65, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 838.1A 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 838.1A is a trash star

GL Gl 838.1A scores 14 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Binary star, 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.