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Common star 18 EP

GL GJ 3647

RA 167.9663° · Dec 33.5365° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads dM4 — 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 12.4 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, 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. ≈ 699 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
11.949
constellation
UMa
dist ly
39.7751
luminosity
0.0014
mag
12.38
name
GL GJ 3647
spect
dM4

About GL GJ 3647

GL GJ 3647 is a common star. It lies about 39.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 12.38 and has spectral type dM4.

Its spectrum reads dM4 — 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 GJ 3647 in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 12.38, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 3647 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 3647 is a common star

GL GJ 3647 scores 18 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Cool red M-type 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.