Gliese 581
Red dwarf star in the constellation Libra
Gliese 581 () is a red dwarf star of spectral type M3V which hosts a planetary system, 20.5 light-years (6.3 parsecs) away from Earth in the constellation Libra. Its estimated mass is about a third of that of the Sun, and it is the 101st closest known star system to the Sun. Gliese 581 is one of the oldest, least active M dwarfs known. Its low stellar activity improves the likelihood of its three planets retaining significant atmospheres, and lessens the sterilizing impact of stellar flares.
History of observations
Gliese 581 is known at least from 1886, when it was included in Eduard Schönfeld's Southern Durchmusterung (SD)—the fourth part of the Bonner Durchmusterung. The corresponding designation is BD−07 4003.
Characteristics
The name Gliese 581 refers to the catalog number from the 1957 survey Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars of 965 stars located within 20 parsecs of the Earth. Other names of this star include BD−07°4003 (BD catalogue, first known publication) and HO Librae (variable star designation). It does not have an individual name such as Sirius or Procyon. The star is a red dwarf with spectral type M3V, located 20.5 light-years (6.3 parsecs) away from Earth.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gliese 581” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.