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Uncommon star 31 EP

GL GJ 1201

RA 246.9721° · Dec 9.2038° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • White dwarf (a burnt-out core) +22
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • White dwarf (a burnt-out core) · +22
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads DA s — a white dwarf — the exposed, Earth-sized cinder of a dead star, with nothing left to burn.

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 16.1 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Hercules.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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. ≈ 1.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 115 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
14.362
bv
0.38
constellation
Her
dist ly
73.6245
luminosity
0.0002
mag
16.13
name
GL GJ 1201
spect
DA s

About GL GJ 1201

GL GJ 1201 is an uncommon star. It lies about 73.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Her, shines at apparent magnitude 16.13 and has spectral type DA s.

Its spectrum reads DA s — a white dwarf — the exposed, Earth-sized cinder of a dead star, with nothing left to burn.

How to see it

Look for GL GJ 1201 in the constellation Her. At apparent magnitude 16.13, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 1201 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 1201 is an uncommon star

GL GJ 1201 scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, White dwarf (a burnt-out core) 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.