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Uncommon star 30 EP

GL GJ 1159B

RA 187.3202° · Dec 53.5501° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
30 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Binary star +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 30

4 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • 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 M5.5-6 — 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 18 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. ≈ 1.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
16.309
binary
yes
constellation
UMa
dist ly
71.058
luminosity
0
mag
18
name
GL GJ 1159B
spect
M5.5-6

About GL GJ 1159B

GL GJ 1159B is an uncommon star. It lies about 71.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 18 and has spectral type M5.5-6.

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 1159B in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 18, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 1159B 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 1159B is an uncommon star

GL GJ 1159B scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Binary star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Cool red M-type star, Red dwarf 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.