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Rare star 37 EP

GL Gl 618B

RA 245.0180° · Dec -37.5307° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
37 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Deep red star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 37

13 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • 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 : — 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 14.2 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Scorpius.
  • 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. ≈ 485.6 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
14.51
binary
yes
bv
1.79
constellation
Sco
dist ly
27.6332
luminosity
0.0001
mag
14.15
name
GL Gl 618B
spect
M5 :

About GL Gl 618B

GL Gl 618B is a rare star. It lies about 27.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sco, shines at apparent magnitude 14.15 and has spectral type M5 :.

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 618B in the constellation Sco. At apparent magnitude 14.15, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 618B 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 618B is a rare star

GL Gl 618B scores 37 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 13 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Star, Binary star, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Deep red 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.