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Common star 18 EP

GL Gl 831B

RA 322.8286° · Dec -9.7904° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Binary star +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • 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.

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 14.9 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Capricornus.
  • 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 August — 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. ≈ 459.2 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 40.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
15.381
binary
yes
constellation
Cap
dist ly
26.13
luminosity
0.0001
mag
14.9
name
GL Gl 831B

About GL Gl 831B

GL Gl 831B is a common star. It lies about 26.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cap and shines at apparent magnitude 14.9.

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 831B in the constellation Cap. At apparent magnitude 14.9, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 831B 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 831B is a common star

GL Gl 831B 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 4 science badges — Star, Binary star, On the zodiac 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.