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Rare star 46 EP

GL Gl 644C

RA 253.8971° · Dec -8.3958° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
46 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Deep red star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 46

4 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • Binary star · +6
  • 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 M7 — 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 16.8 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Ophiuchus.
  • 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 June — 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. ≈ 329 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
17.986
binary
yes
bv
1.99
constellation
Oph
dist ly
18.7197
luminosity
0
mag
16.78
name
GL Gl 644C
spect
M7

About GL Gl 644C

GL Gl 644C is a rare star. It lies about 18.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Oph, shines at apparent magnitude 16.78 and has spectral type M7.

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 644C in the constellation Oph. At apparent magnitude 16.78, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 644C 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 644C is a rare star

GL Gl 644C scores 46 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Star, Nearby (<25 ly), Binary star, 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.