← Back to dex
Uncommon star 32 EP

GL GJ 1053

RA 47.6660° · Dec 73.7743° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 6 badges
32 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 32

2 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads sdM6 — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is a subdwarf: an old, metal-poor star from the galaxy's early days, a little smaller and fainter than a main-sequence star of the same colour.

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 14.6 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Cassiopeia.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around November — 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. ≈ 691.4 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
14.233
bv
1.79
constellation
Cas
dist ly
39.3432
luminosity
0.0002
mag
14.64
name
GL GJ 1053
spect
sdM6

About GL GJ 1053

GL GJ 1053 is an uncommon star. It lies about 39.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 14.64 and has spectral type sdM6.

Its spectrum reads sdM6 — 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 GJ 1053 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 14.64, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 1053 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 1053 is an uncommon star

GL GJ 1053 scores 32 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Cool red M-type star, Deep red star, Red dwarf 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.