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Uncommon star 27 EP

GL GJ 1230B

RA 280.2874° · Dec 24.7861° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
27 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Binary star +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
Total score 27

7 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • Binary star · +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 m — 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 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Hercules.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around July — 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. ≈ 421.4 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
14.668
binary
yes
constellation
Her
dist ly
23.9819
luminosity
0.0001
mag
14
name
GL GJ 1230B
spect
m

About GL GJ 1230B

GL GJ 1230B is an uncommon star. It lies about 24 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Her, shines at apparent magnitude 14 and has spectral type 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 1230B in the constellation Her. At apparent magnitude 14, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 1230B 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 1230B is an uncommon star

GL GJ 1230B scores 27 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Nearby (<25 ly), Binary star 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.