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Common star 15 EP

GL Gl 426B

RA 170.4546° · Dec 18.1896° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Binary star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 15

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3

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 K7 — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 10.7 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Leo.
  • 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. ≈ 1.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
8.204
binary
yes
constellation
Leo
dist ly
102.9534
luminosity
0.0455
mag
10.7
name
GL Gl 426B
spect
K7

About GL Gl 426B

GL Gl 426B is a common star. It lies about 103 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Leo, shines at apparent magnitude 10.7 and has spectral type K7.

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 426B in the constellation Leo. At apparent magnitude 10.7, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 426B 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 426B is a common star

GL Gl 426B scores 15 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Binary star, On the zodiac and Orange K-type star — 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.