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Common star 17 EP

GL GJ 3242

RA 54.8962° · Dec 25.4785° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M3.5 — 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 12.7 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Taurus.
  • 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 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. ≈ 1.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 94.3 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
11.362
constellation
Tau
dist ly
60.3992
luminosity
0.0025
mag
12.7
name
GL GJ 3242
spect
M3.5

About GL GJ 3242

GL GJ 3242 is a common star. It lies about 60.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 12.7 and has spectral type M3.5.

Its spectrum reads M3.5 — 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 3242 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 12.7, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 3242 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 3242 is a common star

GL GJ 3242 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type 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.