Gliese 42 is a K3 V-class star located in the night sky at right ascension 00h 53m 01s and declination −30° 21′ 25″ in the constellation of the Sculptor and moving with a total proper motion of 0.622"/yr.
Available sources are not in agreement on the distance of Gliese 42 from Earth. The University of Heidelberg's ARICNS ARI database shows the star to be at 39.9 ± 5.2 light-years (12.22 ± 1.58 pc) from Earth, while the University of Strasbourg's SIMBAD database lists 46.22 ± 0.39 light-years (14.17 ± 0.12 pc) for the star's distance, and the University of Hamburg's NEXXUS 2 database shows the star at 45.9 light-years (14.07 pc).
With an absolute magnitude of 6.40, this star has an apparent magnitude of 7.15 when viewed from Earth.
The star itself has a temperature of 4,800 K (4,530 °C; 8,180 °F), a mass of 74% that of the Sun (estimated from a mass–luminosity relation), and is spinning with a radial velocity of 7 kilometres per second (4.3 mi/s). There are no known planets accompanying Gliese 42, and its nearest stellar neighbours are Hip 4569, GJ 1031, and GJ 2021.
The star is also known as HD 5133, Hip 4148, cd-31° 325, YPC: 177.00, and LHS: 1163.
An infrared excess has been detected around this star, most likely indicating the presence of a circumstellar disk at a radius of 41.2 astronomical units (6.16×109 km; 3.83×109 mi). The temperature of this dust is 32 K (−241.2 °C; −402.1 °F).