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Rare star 34 EP

GL Gl 203

RA 82.0006° · Dec 9.6439° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
34 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Deep red star +8
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 34

16 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M5 — 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 12.5 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Orion.
  • 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 December — 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. ≈ 505 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 44.9 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
12.755
bv
1.653
constellation
Ori
dist ly
28.7363
luminosity
0.0007
mag
12.48
name
GL Gl 203
spect
M5

About GL Gl 203

GL Gl 203 is a rare star. It lies about 28.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 12.48 and has spectral type M5.

Its spectrum reads M5 — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for GL Gl 203 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 12.48, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 203 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 203 is a rare star

GL Gl 203 scores 34 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 16 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, In Orion's hunting ground, Cool red M-type star, Deep red star, Red dwarf 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.