Trash star 14 EP

HD 118957

RA 205.1051° · Dec -5.2452° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges

14 pts · Trash

Trash 15 pts → Common

Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
Star +3
On the zodiac +3
Yellow-white F-type star +3

Total score 14

1 more point to reach Common.

Badges

Star · +3
On the zodiac · +3
Yellow-white F-type star · +3
Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F5IV — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
Where it is in life. It is a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.

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 8.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Virgo.
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 April — 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. ≈ 9.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag: 1.909
bv: 0.473
constellation: Vir
dist ly: 556.5803
luminosity: 15.0107
mag: 8.07
name: HD 118957
spect: F5IV

Nearby objects

About HD 118957

HD 118957 is a trash star. It lies about 556.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Vir, shines at apparent magnitude 8.07 and has spectral type F5IV.

Its spectrum reads F5IV — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 118957 in the constellation Vir. At apparent magnitude 8.07, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 118957 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 118957 is a trash star

HD 118957 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, On the zodiac, Yellow-white F-type star and Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) — 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.