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Common exoplanet 21 EP

Kepler-96 b

RA 297.0698° · Dec 40.5252° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
21 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Sub-Neptune +5
  • Found by Kepler +3
Total score 21

1 more point to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Sub-Neptune · +5
  • Found by Kepler · +3
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Hugging its star. It orbits closer to its star than Mercury does to the Sun, completing a lap in less time than Mercury takes.
  • What it is made of. Too light to be solid rock and too heavy to be all gas: most likely a deep global ocean or a thick steamy envelope over a rocky core.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 10.6 you'll want a small backyard telescope.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around July — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

density gcc
2.26
diameter km
34059.054
discovery facility
Kepler
discovery method
Transit
discovery year
2014
dist ly
400.7838
eccentricity
0
eq temp k
711
host star teff
5690
inclination
87.94
insolation
57.524
mag
10.568
mass earth
8.46
name
Kepler-96 b
orbital period days
16.2385
radius earth
2.67
semi major au
0.1261
sys num planets
1
sys num stars
1

About Kepler-96 b

Kepler-96 b is a common exoplanet. It lies about 400.8 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 10.57, has an equilibrium temperature near 711 K and spans roughly 2.67 Earth radii.

It orbits closer to its star than Mercury does to the Sun, completing a lap in less time than Mercury takes.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 10.57, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, Kepler-96 b is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why Kepler-96 b is a common exoplanet

Kepler-96 b scores 21 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Sub-Neptune, Found by Kepler and Orbits a Sun-like star — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.