Distance and Visibility
Gliese 876 is located fairly close to the Solar System. According to astrometric measurements made by the Hipparcos satellite, the star shows a parallax of 213.28 milliarcseconds, which corresponds to a distance of 4.69 parsecs (15.3 ly), currently making it the fourth closest known star with orbiting planets, after Alpha Centauri, Epsilon Eridani, and Gliese 674. Despite being located so close to Earth, the star is so faint that it is invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen using a telescope.
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Famous quotes containing the words distance and/or visibility:
“Under all conditions well-organized violence seems to him the shortest distance between two points.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“My children have taught me things. Things I thought I knew. The most profound wisdom they have given me is a respect for human vulnerability. I have known that people are resilient, but I didn’t appreciate how fragile they are. Until children learn to hide their feelings, you read them in their faces, gestures, and postures. The sheer visibility of shyness, pain, and rejection let me recognize and remember them.”
—Shirley Nelson Garner (20th century)