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Uncommon star 23 EP

GL Gl 231.1B

RA 94.2951° · Dec 5.1195° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Star +3
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What makes it special

  • Not one star but two. It is a binary: two stars orbiting a shared centre of mass. More than half of all the 'stars' you can see are actually multiple systems.

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads m+ — 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 13.4 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Orion.
  • 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 December — 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).

Properties

absmag
11.99
binary
yes
bv
1.41
constellation
Ori
dist ly
63.013
luminosity
0.0014
mag
13.42
name
GL Gl 231.1B
spect
m+

About GL Gl 231.1B

GL Gl 231.1B is an uncommon star. It lies about 63 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 13.42 and has spectral type m+.

It is a binary: two stars orbiting a shared centre of mass. More than half of all the 'stars' you can see are actually multiple systems.

How to see it

Look for GL Gl 231.1B in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 13.42, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 231.1B 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 231.1B is an uncommon star

GL Gl 231.1B scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Binary star, In Orion's hunting ground and Deep red star — 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.