Gliese 440

Despite its closeness, Gliese 440 is intrinsically faint with just 0.05% the luminosity of the Sun, and can not be viewed to the naked eye with an apparent magnitude of +11.5. Gliese 440 is known at least from 1917, when its proper motion was published by R. T. A. Innes and H. E. Wood in Volume 37 of Circular of the Union Observatory. The corresponding designation is UO 37. (Note: this designation is not unique for this star, that is all other stars, listed in the table in the Volume 37 of this Circular, also could be called by this name). Gliese 440 may be a member of the Wolf 219 moving group, which has seven possible members. These stars share a similar motion through space, which may indicate a common origin. This group has an estimated space velocity of 160 km/s and is following a highly eccentric orbit through the Milky Way galaxy. White dwarfs are no longer generating energy at their cores through nuclear fusion, and instead are steadily radiating away their remaining heat.