astronomy

Gliese 674

Gliese 674 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 674 rather than just read about it. In short: Gliese 674 (GJ 674) is a red dwarf star with an exoplanetary companion in the southern constellation of Ara. It is too faint to be visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 9.38 and an absolute magnitude of 11.09.

Key takeaways

Gliese 674 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 674 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gliese 674 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gliese 674 (GJ 674) is a red dwarf star with an exoplanetary companion in the southern constellation of Ara. It is too faint to be visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 9.38 and an absolute magnitude of 11.09. The system is located at a distance of 14.85 light-years from the Sun based on parallax measurements, but is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −2.9 km/s. It is a candidate member of the 200 million year old Castor stream of co-moving stars.

Description GJ 674 is a low-mass M-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of M3V. The star is weakly active and show star spots on a regular basis. Even low activity red dwarfs can flare, and in 2018 this star was observed emitting a hot ultraviolet flare with a total energy of 5.6×1023 Joules and a duration of a few hours. GJ 674 is at an intermediate stage of spin-down with a rotation period of 33.4 days, suggesting an age of up to a few billion years. It is smaller and less massive than the Sun, and is radiating just 1.6% of the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 3,404 K.

Planetary system On January 7, 2007, Bonfils et al. used the HARPS spectrograph in ESO and found an intermediate mass planet orbiting close to the red dwarf star in an eccentric orbit. This system is a promising candidate for detecting radio emission caused by interaction between the planet and the stellar wind. No additional planets were found as of 2024.

See also List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs Lists of exoplanets

References

External links "Gliese 674". nStars database entry. Archived from the original on April 28, 2005. "Gliese 674". SolStation. Archived from the original on 2021-03-30. Retrieved 2005-09-09. GJ 674 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Catalog Image Gliese 674

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gliese 674

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gliese 674 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 674 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 674 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 674

In research: Gliese 674 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 674 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 674 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Ara (constellation), Durchmusterung objects, Gliese 674, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gliese 674 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 674 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gliese 674 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 674 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gliese 674 in simple terms?

Why does Gliese 674 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 674?

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 674.