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Trash star 14 EP

GL Gl 255A

RA 104.3233° · Dec -35.5072° · star

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Score breakdown

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

1 more point to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Yellow-white F-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 F5V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 6.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Puppis.
  • 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 January — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Properties

absmag
3.057
binary
yes
bv
0.465
constellation
Pup
dist ly
140.5843
luminosity
5.2143
mag
6.23
name
GL Gl 255A
spect
F5V

About GL Gl 255A

GL Gl 255A is a trash star. It lies about 140.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Pup, shines at apparent magnitude 6.23 and has spectral type F5V.

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 255A in the constellation Pup. At apparent magnitude 6.23, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 255A 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 255A is a trash star

GL Gl 255A 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, Yellow-white F-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.