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Uncommon star 30 EP

GL GJ 9812B

RA 347.4796° · Dec -22.4574° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
30 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Binary star +6
  • White A-type star +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 30

4 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Binary star · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

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 A3 (IV) — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 5.9 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Aquarius.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around September — 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. ≈ 2.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.511
binary
yes
constellation
Aqr
dist ly
155.3122
luminosity
8.6218
mag
5.9
name
GL GJ 9812B
spect
A3 (IV)

About GL GJ 9812B

GL GJ 9812B is an uncommon star. It lies about 155.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aqr, shines at apparent magnitude 5.9 and has spectral type A3 (IV).

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 9812B in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 5.9, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 9812B 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 9812B is an uncommon star

GL GJ 9812B scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Binary star, On the zodiac, White A-type star and Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) — 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.