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Rare star 38 EP

GL GJ 1116B

RA 134.5635° · Dec 19.7650° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
38 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Deep red star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 38

12 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • Binary star · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • 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 14.9 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Cancer.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around February — 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. ≈ 299.6 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
16.329
binary
yes
bv
1.93
constellation
Cnc
dist ly
17.0495
luminosity
0
mag
14.92
name
GL GJ 1116B
spect
m

About GL GJ 1116B

GL GJ 1116B is a rare star. It lies about 17 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cnc, shines at apparent magnitude 14.92 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 GJ 1116B in the constellation Cnc. At apparent magnitude 14.92, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 1116B 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 1116B is a rare star

GL GJ 1116B scores 38 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Nearby (<25 ly), Binary star, On the zodiac, 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.