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Uncommon star 28 EP

GL GJ 3412A

RA 103.5164° · Dec 60.8718° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
28 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Binary star +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 28

6 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Binary star · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • 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 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 11 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Lynx.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around January — 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. ≈ 600.6 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
10.908
binary
yes
bv
1.552
constellation
Lyn
dist ly
34.1776
luminosity
0.0038
mag
11.01
name
GL GJ 3412A
spect
M:

About GL GJ 3412A

GL GJ 3412A is an uncommon star. It lies about 34.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Lyn, shines at apparent magnitude 11.01 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 3412A in the constellation Lyn. At apparent magnitude 11.01, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL GJ 3412A 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 3412A is an uncommon star

GL GJ 3412A scores 28 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Binary star, Cool red M-type star, Deep red 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.