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Common star 18 EP

GL Gl 430

RA 172.8043° · Dec 63.1575° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M0 — 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 10 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Ursa Major.
  • 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 March — 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. ≈ 1.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 114.7 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
8.216
bv
1.315
constellation
UMa
dist ly
73.4751
luminosity
0.045
mag
9.98
name
GL Gl 430
spect
M0

About GL Gl 430

GL Gl 430 is a common star. It lies about 73.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 9.98 and has spectral type M0.

Its spectrum reads M0 — 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 430 in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 9.98, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GL Gl 430 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 430 is a common star

GL Gl 430 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, Never sets (northern circumpolar), 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.