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Trash star 8 EP

HD 120001

RA 207.1120° · Dec -60.4644° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
8 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 8

7 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K1/K2V — 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 9.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Centaurus.
  • 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 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. ≈ 3.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 321.9 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
5.836
bv
0.905
constellation
Cen
dist ly
206.1668
luminosity
0.4033
mag
9.84
name
HD 120001
spect
K1/K2V

About HD 120001

HD 120001 is a trash star. It lies about 206.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cen, shines at apparent magnitude 9.84 and has spectral type K1/K2V.

Its spectrum reads K1/K2V — 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 120001 in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude 9.84, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 120001 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 120001 is a trash star

HD 120001 scores 8 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Orange K-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.