← Back to dex
Rare star 34 EP

GL Gl 414B

RA 167.7602° · Dec 30.4458° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 7 badges
34 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Deep red star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 34

16 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +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 M2 V — 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 10 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Ursa Major.
  • 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 March — 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. ≈ 683.5 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
9.598
binary
yes
bv
1.52
constellation
UMa
dist ly
38.8977
luminosity
0.0126
mag
9.98
name
GL Gl 414B
spect
M2 V

About GL Gl 414B

GL Gl 414B is a rare star. It lies about 38.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 9.98 and has spectral type M2 V.

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 414B in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 9.98, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 414B 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 414B is a rare star

GL Gl 414B scores 34 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 16 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Star, Binary star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Cool red M-type star, Main-sequence star, Deep red star and Red dwarf — 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.