astronomy

Gliese 179

Gliese 179 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gliese 179 rather than just read about it. In short: Gliese 179 is a small red dwarf star with an exoplanetary companion in the equatorial constellation of Orion. It is much too faint to be visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 11.94.

Key takeaways

Gliese 179 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gliese 179 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gliese 179 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gliese 179 is a small red dwarf star with an exoplanetary companion in the equatorial constellation of Orion. It is much too faint to be visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 11.94. The system is located at a distance of 40.5 light-years (12.4 parsecs) from the Sun based on parallax measurements, but is drifting closer with a radial velocity of –9 km/s. It is a high proper motion star, traversing the celestial sphere at an angular rate of 0.370″·yr−1. This is an M-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of M2V. Based on the motion of this star through space, it is estimated to be roughly 4.6 billion years old. It is chromospherically active with a projected rotational velocity of 4 km/s. This star is smaller and less massive than the Sun, but has a higher metal content. It is radiating just 1.6% of the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 3,424 K. In 2009, a Jovian-type planet was found in orbit around the star, one of the few red dwarfs known to harbor a planet of this mass. The radial velocity data suggested there may be an additional companion. At the orbital distance of this planet, it is not expected to be influenced by tidal interactions with the host star. In 2023, the inclination and true mass of Gliese 179 b were determined via astrometry. A second candidate planet was reported in 2017 and was also reported in a 2019 preprint. This is a potential super-Earth with a minimum mass equal to about five times the mass of the Earth.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gliese 179

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gliese 179 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gliese 179 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gliese 179 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gliese 179

In research: Gliese 179 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gliese 179 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gliese 179 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Gliese and GJ objects, Hipparcos objects, M-type main-sequence stars, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gliese 179 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Gliese 179” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Gliese 179 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gliese 179 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gliese 179 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gliese 179 in simple terms?

Why does Gliese 179 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gliese 179?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gliese 179.