Gliese 42

Gliese 42 is a star in the southern constellation of Sculptor. It is too faint to be seen with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of +7.3. The annual parallax shift of 70.56 mas provides a distance estimate of 46 light years. It has a relatively high proper motion, advancing 0.62 arcseconds across the sky per annum, and is moving closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −13 km/s.

The spectrum of the star matches a stellar classification of K2.5 V (k), indicating it is an ordinary K-type main-sequence star that is generating energy through hydrogen fusion at its core. It is radiating 29% of the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,822 K. The star has 66% of the Sun's radius.

Debris disk
An infrared excess has been detected around this star, most likely indicating the presence of a circumstellar disk at a radius of 45.7 au. The temperature of this dust was initially estimated as 30 K according to measurement by Herschel Space Observatory. Later that measurement was deemed questionable, and fixed temperature of 62 K was obtained in 2020.