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Uncommon star 31 EP

GL GJ 3162

RA 38.1600° · Dec -14.1972° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • White dwarf (a burnt-out core) +22
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • White dwarf (a burnt-out core) · +22
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads DC — a white dwarf — the exposed, Earth-sized cinder of a dead star, with nothing left to burn.

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 15.8 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Cetus.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around October — 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. ≈ 887.2 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 78.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
14.811
bv
0.75
constellation
Cet
dist ly
50.4886
luminosity
0.0001
mag
15.76
name
GL GJ 3162
spect
DC

About GL GJ 3162

GL GJ 3162 is an uncommon star. It lies about 50.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 15.76 and has spectral type DC.

Its spectrum reads DC — a white dwarf — the exposed, Earth-sized cinder of a dead star, with nothing left to burn.

How to see it

Look for GL GJ 3162 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 15.76, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 3162 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 GJ 3162 is an uncommon star

GL GJ 3162 scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, White dwarf (a burnt-out core) and Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) — 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.