It is currently 17.1
light-years from Earth and has an
apparent magnitude of 10.8. It is visible from north of the
Tropic of Cancer all night long, but not to the naked eye.[10] Because the star is a
red dwarf with a mass only a quarter to a third of that of the
Sun, scientists question the ability of this system to support life.[10] Gliese 445 is also a known X-ray source.[11]
The Voyager 1 probe will pass within 1.6 light-years of Gliese 445 in about 40,000 years.[12]
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
parsecs (3.45 light-years) from the Sun,[13] but with less than half the brightness necessary to be seen with the naked eye.[10] At that time, Gliese 445 will be approximately tied with
Ross 248 for being the closest star to the Sun (see
List of nearest stars#Future and past).
^
abUrban, S. E.; Zacharias, N.; Wycoff, Observatory G. L. U. S. Naval; Washington, 2004-2006 D. C. (2004). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: The UCAC2 Bright Star Supplement (Urban+, 2006)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog.
Bibcode:
2004yCat.1294....0U.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
^Lépine, Sébastien; Hilton, Eric J.; Mann, Andrew W.; Wilde, Matthew; Rojas-Ayala, Bárbara; Cruz, Kelle L.; Gaidos, Eric (2013). "A Spectroscopic Catalog of the Brightest (J < 9) M Dwarfs in the Northern Sky". The Astronomical Journal. 145 (4): 102.
arXiv:1206.5991.
Bibcode:
2013AJ....145..102L.
doi:
10.1088/0004-6256/145/4/102.
S2CID117144290.
^Gaidos, E.; Mann, A. W.; Lépine, S.; Buccino, A.; James, D.; Ansdell, M.; Petrucci, R.; Mauas, P.; Hilton, E. J. (2014). "Trumpeting M dwarfs with CONCH-SHELL: A catalogue of nearby cool host-stars for habitable exoplanets and life". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 443 (3): 2561.
arXiv:1406.7353.
Bibcode:
2014MNRAS.443.2561G.
doi:
10.1093/mnras/stu1313.
S2CID119234492.