About V1298 Tau b
V1298 Tau b is an uncommon exoplanet. It lies about 352.9 light-years from Earth, has an equilibrium temperature near 666 K, spans roughly 9.41 Earth radii and weighs about 13.1 Earth masses.
So low-density it would float on water.
Uncommon exoplanet 27 EP
V1298 Tau b
RA 61.3317° · Dec 20.1570° · exoplanet
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 33 pts → Rare
- Puffy low-density world +12
- Multi-planet system +6
- Confirmed exoplanet +5
- Gas giant +4
Total score 27
6 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Confirmed exoplanet · +5
- Gas giant · +4
- Puffy low-density world · +12
- Multi-planet system · +6
Trivia
What makes it special
- Cotton-candy planet. So low-density it would float on water.
Could we get there?
- Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.
Getting there
- Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 6.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
- Fastest probe ever. ≈ 551 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
- At 10% light speed. ≈ 3529 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
- Distance. 353 light-years from Earth.
Look-back time
- Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 1673.
Saying hello
- Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 706 years round-trip.
Standing on it
- A year here. A full year lasts just 24.1 Earth days.
By the numbers
- Size. About 9.4× the width of Earth.
- Volume. About 833 Earths could fit inside it.
- Mass. About 13.1× the mass of Earth.
- Your weight. You'd weigh about 0.1× your Earth weight standing here.
- Density. Less dense than water — drop it in a big enough ocean and it would float.
- Temperature. A scorching 393°C on average.
How we found it
- Discovery. Found by K2 using the transit method.
Cosmic context
- Crowded system. One of at least 4 planets orbiting its star.
Properties
- density gcc
- 0.09
- discovery facility
- K2
- discovery method
- Transit
- dist ly
- 352.8975
- eccentricity
- 0.0079
- eq temp k
- 666
- insolation
- 33.2
- mass earth
- 13.1
- name
- V1298 Tau b
- orbital period days
- 24.14
- radius earth
- 9.41
- sys num planets
- 4
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, V1298 Tau 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 V1298 Tau b is an uncommon exoplanet
V1298 Tau b scores 27 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Gas giant, Puffy low-density world and Multi-planet system — 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.