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Trash star 6 EP

HD 56171

RA 109.4277° · Dec 38.8763° · star

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Score breakdown

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

9 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K0 — 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. 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 6.5 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Auriga.
  • 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 January — 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. ≈ 8.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 750 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
0.639
bv
0.995
constellation
Aur
dist ly
480.3476
luminosity
48.3504
mag
6.48
name
HD 56171
spect
K0

About HD 56171

HD 56171 is a trash star. It lies about 480.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aur, shines at apparent magnitude 6.48 and has spectral type K0.

Its spectrum reads K0 — 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 HD 56171 in the constellation Aur. At apparent magnitude 6.48, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 56171 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 HD 56171 is a trash star

HD 56171 scores 6 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 2 science badges — Star and Orange K-type 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.