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Trash star 14 EP

GL Gl 478

RA 189.2105° · Dec -76.9549° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
14 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 14

1 more point to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

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 11 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Chamaeleon.
  • Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around March — 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. ≈ 2.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 184.7 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
8.182
bv
1.306
constellation
Cha
dist ly
118.301
luminosity
0.0465
mag
10.98
name
GL Gl 478
spect
M

About GL Gl 478

GL Gl 478 is a trash star. It lies about 118.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cha, shines at apparent magnitude 10.98 and has spectral type M.

Its spectrum reads M — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for GL Gl 478 in the constellation Cha. At apparent magnitude 10.98, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 478 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 478 is a trash star

GL Gl 478 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 3 science badges — Star, Cool red M-type star and Red dwarf — 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.