Gliese 1 is a red dwarf in Sculptor, the first entry in Wilhelm Gliese’s catalogue of nearby stars, quiet and too faint to be seen by the naked eye.
At a glance
| type | red dwarf (class M) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 14.2 light-years (4.35 pc) |
| its light left it | 14.2 years ago |
| luminosity | 0.0022 × the Sun |
| radius | 0.38 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 3,570 K |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Gliese 1
Gliese 1 is a red dwarf, smaller and much dimmer than the Sun. It owes its name to the Catalogue of Nearby Stars compiled by Wilhelm Gliese, which lists stars within reach of the Sun in order of their position on the sky; this one happens to come first.
It moves quickly across the sky, as close stars do, and it is relatively inactive for a red dwarf, with few flares. Searches for planets around it have so far found none. It is a typical example of the commonest kind of star in the Galaxy: a red dwarf, unremarkable, invisible from Earth without a telescope, and close.
What you see in the piece
Fly to it and you find an orange-red disc. In HUMAN EYE there is nothing to see in Sculptor.
Questions
Why is it called Gliese 1?
It is the first entry in Wilhelm Gliese’s Catalogue of Nearby Stars, which is ordered by position on the sky.