astronomy

Gliese 486

Gliese 486 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 486 rather than just read about it. In short: Gliese 486, also known as Wolf 437 and formally named Gar, is a red dwarf star 26.4 light-years (8.1 parsecs) away in the constellation Virgo. It hosts one known exoplanet, Gliese 486 b.

Key takeaways

Gliese 486 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 486 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gliese 486 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gliese 486, also known as Wolf 437 and formally named Gar, is a red dwarf star 26.4 light-years (8.1 parsecs) away in the constellation Virgo. It hosts one known exoplanet, Gliese 486 b.

Nomenclature The designation Gliese 486 comes from the Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars. This was the 486th star listed in the first edition of the catalogue. In August 2022, this planetary system was included among 20 systems to be named by the third NameExoWorlds project. The approved names, proposed by a team from Spain, were announced in June 2023. Gliese 486 is named Gar and its planet is named Su, after the Basque words for "flame" and "fire".

Properties Gliese 486 has a surface temperature of 3,317±36 K. Gliese 486 is similar to the Sun in its concentration of heavy elements, with a metallicity Fe/H index of 0.07±0.16. It was suspected to be a flare star, although measurements available in 2019 did not reveal any flares. The chemical makeup of the star is unremarkable and consistent with solar abundances or being slightly metal-poor. The star has an unremarkable magnetic field in the chromosphere of about 1.6 kilogauss. It is rotating very slowly and is likely to be very old, belonging kinematically to the old thin disk of the Milky Way. Multiplicity surveys did not detect any stellar companions to Gliese 486 as of 2020.

Planetary system

Gliese 486 hosts one known planet, the close-orbiting rocky super-Earth Gliese 486 b, discovered in 2021. It has been of interest for atmospheric characterization by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). JWST observations announced in 2023 detected signs of water vapor, but it was unclear if this was from the planet's atmosphere or from its host star; later observations published in 2024 suggested that the planet likely has little to no atmosphere, so the previous water vapor detection was likely a result of contamination from the host star.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gliese 486

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gliese 486 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 486 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 486 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 486

In research: Gliese 486 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 486 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 486 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 486 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.

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How to study Gliese 486 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gliese 486 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 486 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gliese 486 in simple terms?

Gliese 486, also known as Wolf 437 and formally named Gar, is a red dwarf star 26.4 light-years (8.1 parsecs) away in the constellation Virgo. It hosts one known exoplanet, Gliese 486 b.

Why does Gliese 486 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 486?

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 486.