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Common star 18 EP

GL GJ 3865B

RA 221.1660° · Dec -22.2463° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Binary star +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • 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 k-m — 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. 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 16.3 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Libra.
  • 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 May — 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. ≈ 1.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
14.31
binary
yes
constellation
Lib
dist ly
81.539
luminosity
0.0002
mag
16.3
name
GL GJ 3865B
spect
k-m

About GL GJ 3865B

GL GJ 3865B is a common star. It lies about 81.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Lib, shines at apparent magnitude 16.3 and has spectral type k-m.

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 3865B in the constellation Lib. At apparent magnitude 16.3, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 3865B 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 3865B is a common star

GL GJ 3865B 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, Binary star, On the zodiac 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.