Groombridge 1618

Groombridge 1618 is a star in the northern constellation Ursa Major. It has an apparent visual magnitude of +6.6, which means it is just barely visible to the human eye under very good conditions. This star is fairly close to our Earth, about 15.89 light-years away.

Groombridge 1618 is a main sequence star. This means it is in a stable part of its life, turning hydrogen into helium. It has a spectral type of K7.5 Ve. The star is a little smaller than our Sun, with only about 67% of the Sun's mass. Because it is close and has interesting features, scientists find it fascinating to study.

Properties

This star was first listed in 1838 by Stephen Groombridge. It moves quickly across the sky, which suggested it was close to Earth. Scientists later measured its distance by watching how it appeared to shift against the background stars.

Groombridge 1618 is a cooler, smaller star than our Sun. It has less mass and gives off less energy, glowing with an orange color. Sometimes, its brightness increases slightly, like some other small stars.

Search for planets

Scientists have looked for planets around Groombridge 1618 using special telescopes like the Infrared Space Observatory and the Herschel Space Observatory. They found some signs of tiny bits of dust far from the star, but no planets have been confirmed yet.

Some old observations suggested there might be a planet about four times the size of Jupiter orbiting the star, but this wasn’t proven. If such a planet exists, it might be in a place where liquid water could exist, which scientists call the habitable zone. More recent checks with the MMT telescope didn’t find any planets either.