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Trash star 12 EP

GL Gl 897B

RA 353.1933° · Dec -16.7522° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
12 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Binary star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 12

3 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3

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.

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 11.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Aquarius.
  • 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 September — 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. ≈ 739.5 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 65.7 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
10.847
binary
yes
constellation
Aqr
dist ly
42.0846
luminosity
0.004
mag
11.4
name
GL Gl 897B

About GL Gl 897B

GL Gl 897B is a trash star. It lies about 42.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aqr and shines at apparent magnitude 11.4.

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 897B in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 11.4, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 897B 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 897B is a trash star

GL Gl 897B 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, Binary star and On the zodiac — 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.