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Common star 20 EP

GL Gl 99A

RA 37.1935° · Dec 32.2595° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Binary star +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +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 M0p — 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 9.6 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Triangulum.
  • 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 October — 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. ≈ 1.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
7.481
binary
yes
bv
1.33
constellation
Tri
dist ly
85.3589
luminosity
0.0886
mag
9.57
name
GL Gl 99A
spect
M0p

About GL Gl 99A

GL Gl 99A is a common star. It lies about 85.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tri, shines at apparent magnitude 9.57 and has spectral type M0p.

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 99A in the constellation Tri. At apparent magnitude 9.57, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 99A 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 99A is a common star

GL Gl 99A scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Binary star, Cool red M-type star and Red dwarf — 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.