Groombridge 1618

Star type
g K7

Distance from Earth
g 15.84 ly

Star Service No.
g NA

Age
g Slightly more than 1 Gy

Diameter/Mass/Temp (xSol)
g 64%; 64%; 4,000 K

Brightness (xSol)
g 4.6% (flare star)

Metallicity
g 191%

Comparison to Sol
g See illustration

Picture of star
g See picture

Star system features
g A flare star with behavior similar to UV Ceti. The chromosphere has been shown to be active and possesses star spots comparable to a Sun spot. It has a greater luminosity than most flare stars, which are typically red dwarfs, but is less active. The level of activity may suggest that this is a somewhat youthful star.

Known planets
g No stellar or brown dwarf companion of at least seven Jupiter masses with an orbital period of less than four years has been detected around the star

Habitable zone
g Distance from Groombridge 1618 where an Earth-type planet would be "comfortable" with liquid water is centered around only 0.22 AU, well within Mercury's orbital distance in the Solar System. At that distance from the star, such a planet would have an orbital period of about 58 days - less than a sixth of an Earth year. The star probably is too young to host a planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere like Earth's.

Orbital map
g NA

View from star
g See sky map

Nearby stars
(Star systems with 10 light years)
g BD+44 2051 A /WX Ursae Majoris: 3.1 ly
g Struve 1321 AB: 5.2 ly
g GJ 1116 AB: 7.3 ly
g AD Leonis: 8.1 ly
g DX Cancri: 8.2 ly
g Lalande 21185: 8.3 ly
g AC+79 3888: 9 ly

Map locating star system
g See stellar map

Location in Earth sky
g in the northwestern corner of Constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, which also encompasses the Big Dipper or Plow (Plough), southwest of Merak (Beta Ursae Majoris), north of Tania Australis and Borealis (Mu and Lambda Ursae Majoris), and east of Talitha (Iota Ursae Majoris

Other names
g GJ 380
g Heintz AJ 94
g BD+50°1725
g GCTP 2390.00
g HD 88230
g HIP 49908
g IRAS 10082+4942
g LFT 696
g LHS 280
g LTT 12732
g SAO 43223

Sci-fi mentions
g Mindbridge (St. Martin's Press, 1978), novel by Joe Haldeman. A planet orbiting Groombridge 1618 serves as the homeworld for the psi-amplifying "Groombridge Bridge" and the L'Vrai race, and is reached by the faster than light system, the "Levant-Meyer Translation"
g Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. Groombridge 1618 is uninhabited in the Frontier series.
g Revelation Space, novel by Alastair Reynolds. The planet Turqoise, a Pattern Juggler world, orbits Groombridge 1618.
g Among the first 26 interstellar expeditions is one to this star system in Frederick Pohl's short story "Father of the Stars"

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