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Rare star 34 EP

GL Gl 880

RA 344.1451° · Dec 16.5534° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
34 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Deep red star +8
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 34

16 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M2: — 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. Inside our stellar backyard: every radio broadcast humanity has ever made has already swept past it.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Pegasus.
  • 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 September — 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. ≈ 392.3 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 34.9 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
9.503
bv
1.507
constellation
Peg
dist ly
22.3257
luminosity
0.0138
mag
8.68
name
GL Gl 880
spect
M2:

About GL Gl 880

GL Gl 880 is a rare star. It lies about 22.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Peg, shines at apparent magnitude 8.68 and has spectral type M2:.

Its spectrum reads M2: — 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 880 in the constellation Peg. At apparent magnitude 8.68, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 880 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 880 is a rare star

GL Gl 880 scores 34 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 16 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Nearby (<25 ly), Cool red M-type star, Deep red 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.