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Rare star 49 EP

GL Gl 280B

RA 114.8251° · Dec 5.2268° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
49 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • White dwarf (a burnt-out core) +22
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Binary star +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
Total score 49

1 more point to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • Binary star · +6
  • White dwarf (a burnt-out core) · +22
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) · +6

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 DA — 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 10.7 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Canis Minor.
  • 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 January — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. A multi-generation starship could one day attempt the crossing.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 200.5 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
12.981
binary
yes
constellation
CMi
dist ly
11.407
luminosity
0.0006
mag
10.7
name
GL Gl 280B
spect
DA

Nearby objects

About GL Gl 280B

GL Gl 280B is a rare star. It lies about 11.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation CMi, shines at apparent magnitude 10.7 and has spectral type DA.

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 280B in the constellation CMi. At apparent magnitude 10.7, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 280B 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 280B is a rare star

GL Gl 280B scores 49 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Nearby (<25 ly), Binary 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.