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Uncommon star 23 EP

GL Gl 431.1B

RA 173.0911° · Dec 61.0831° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Main-sequence star · +2

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 G3 V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

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 7.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Ursa Major.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • 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. ≈ 1.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
4.902
binary
yes
constellation
UMa
dist ly
89.7513
luminosity
0.9532
mag
7.1
name
GL Gl 431.1B
spect
G3 V

About GL Gl 431.1B

GL Gl 431.1B is an uncommon star. It lies about 89.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 7.1 and has spectral type G3 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 431.1B in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 7.1, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 431.1B 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 431.1B is an uncommon star

GL Gl 431.1B scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Binary star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-type star and Main-sequence 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.