Gliese 445 (Gl 445 or AC +79 3888) is an
M-type main sequence
In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Her ...
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
in the northern part of the constellation
Camelopardalis
Camelopardalis is a large but faint constellation of the northern sky representing a giraffe. The constellation was introduced in 1612 or 1613 by Petrus Plancius. Some older astronomy books give Camelopardalus or Camelopardus as alternative for ...
.
Location
It is currently 17.1
light-year
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...
s from Earth and has an
apparent magnitude
Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's li ...
of 10.8. It is visible from north of the
Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward ...
all night long, but not to the naked eye.
Because the star is a
red dwarf
''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...
with a mass only a quarter to a third of that of the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
, scientists question the ability of this system to support life.
Gliese 445 is also a known X-ray source.
The ''
Voyager 1
''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. Launched 16 days after its twin ''Voyager 2'', ''Voya ...
'' probe and Gliese 445 will pass one another within 1.6 light-years in about 40,000 years.
By that time Gliese 445 will be in a part of the sky different from its present location. The probe will no longer be operational.
Solar encounter
While the Voyager probe moves through space towards a 1.6-light-year minimum distance from Gliese 445, the star is rapidly approaching the Sun. At the time the probe passes Gliese 445, the star will be about 1.059
parsec
The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (au), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and ...
s (3.45 light-years) from the Sun,
but with less than half the brightness necessary to be seen with the naked eye.
At that time, Gliese 445 will be approximately tied with
Ross 248
Ross 248, also called HH Andromedae or Gliese 905, is a small star approximately from Earth in the northern constellation of Andromeda. Despite its proximity it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye. It was first catalogued by Fr ...
for being the closest star to the Sun (see
List of nearest stars#Future and past).
See also
*
Lists of stars
The following are lists of stars. These are astronomical objects that spend some portion of their existence generating energy through thermonuclear fusion.
By location
* Lists of stars by constellation
By name
* List of traditional star names
* L ...
References
External links
*Wikisk
imageof TYC 4553-192-1 (Gliese 445)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gliese 445
Camelopardalis (constellation)
M-type main-sequence stars
057544
0445
Emission-line stars
TIC objects