← Back to dex
Rare star 34 EP

GL GJ 3259

RA 60.1112° · Dec 8.2363° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
34 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • White dwarf (a burnt-out core) +22
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 34

16 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

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

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads DC9 — 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 15.9 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Taurus.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 89.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
14.638
bv
0.69
constellation
Tau
dist ly
57.5232
luminosity
0.0001
mag
15.87
name
GL GJ 3259
spect
DC9

About GL GJ 3259

GL GJ 3259 is a rare star. It lies about 57.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 15.87 and has spectral type DC9.

Its spectrum reads DC9 — 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 3259 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 15.87, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 3259 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 3259 is a rare star

GL GJ 3259 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 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, 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.