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Rare star 43 EP

GL Gl 299

RA 122.9894° · Dec 8.7757° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
43 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Deep red star +8
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 43

7 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads dM5 — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

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 12.8 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Cancer.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 387.3 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
13.681
bv
1.77
constellation
Cnc
dist ly
22.0377
luminosity
0.0003
mag
12.83
name
GL Gl 299
spect
dM5

About GL Gl 299

GL Gl 299 is a rare star. It lies about 22 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cnc, shines at apparent magnitude 12.83 and has spectral type dM5.

Its spectrum reads dM5 — 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 Gl 299 in the constellation Cnc. At apparent magnitude 12.83, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 299 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 299 is a rare star

GL Gl 299 scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Star, Nearby (<25 ly), On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Deep red star, Red dwarf 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.