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Common star 18 EP

GL Gl 684B

RA 263.7419° · Dec 61.8754° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Binary star +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2

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 K3 V — 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 8.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Draco.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • 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. ≈ 807.5 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
7.316
binary
yes
bv
1.1
constellation
Dra
dist ly
45.9505
luminosity
0.1032
mag
8.06
name
GL Gl 684B
spect
K3 V

About GL Gl 684B

GL Gl 684B is a common star. It lies about 46 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Dra, shines at apparent magnitude 8.06 and has spectral type K3 V.

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 684B in the constellation Dra. At apparent magnitude 8.06, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 684B 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 684B is a common star

GL Gl 684B 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 5 science badges — Star, Binary star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Orange K-type star and Main-sequence 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.