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Common star 17 EP

GL GJ 1161B

RA 188.9065° · Dec -34.9048° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Deep red star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8

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.

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 11.9 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Centaurus.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south 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. ≈ 924.4 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 82.1 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
10.872
binary
yes
bv
1.6
constellation
Cen
dist ly
52.6057
luminosity
0.0039
mag
11.91
name
GL GJ 1161B

About GL GJ 1161B

GL GJ 1161B is a common star. It lies about 52.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cen and shines at apparent magnitude 11.91.

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 1161B in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude 11.91, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 1161B 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 1161B is a common star

GL GJ 1161B scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Binary star and Deep red 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.