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Uncommon star 23 EP

GL Gl 283B

RA 115.0852° · Dec -17.4133° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • 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 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 16.4 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Puppis.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 511.7 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
16.666
binary
yes
bv
1.83
constellation
Pup
dist ly
29.1212
luminosity
0
mag
16.42
name
GL Gl 283B
spect
m

About GL Gl 283B

GL Gl 283B is an uncommon star. It lies about 29.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Pup, shines at apparent magnitude 16.42 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 283B in the constellation Pup. At apparent magnitude 16.42, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 283B 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 283B is an uncommon star

GL Gl 283B 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, Deep red star 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.