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Rare exoplanet 35 EP

HD 164922 b

RA 270.6305° · Dec 26.3104° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
35 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Puffy low-density world +12
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Gas giant +4
Total score 35

15 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Gas giant · +4
  • Puffy low-density world · +12
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +8

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • It would float. It is less dense than water. Drop it in a big enough ocean and the whole world would bob on the surface.

What it actually is

  • What it is made of. Lighter than Neptune — a puffed-up ball of hydrogen and helium with no surface anywhere on it to stand on.
  • Crowded system. One of at least 4 planets orbiting its star.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Inside our stellar backyard: every radio broadcast humanity has ever made has already swept past it.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in.
  • 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 June — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

density gcc
0.271
diameter km
169657.46
discovery facility
W. M. Keck Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2005
dist ly
71.7595
eccentricity
0.08
eq temp k
159.4
host star teff
5390
insolation
0.1578
mag
7.0123
mass earth
116
name
HD 164922 b
orbital period days
1207
radius earth
13.3
semi major au
2.16
spect
G9 V
sys num planets
4
sys num stars
1

About HD 164922 b

HD 164922 b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 71.8 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 7.01, has spectral type G9 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 159 K.

Lighter than Neptune — a puffed-up ball of hydrogen and helium with no surface anywhere on it to stand on.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 7.01, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 164922 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 HD 164922 b is a rare exoplanet

HD 164922 b scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 15 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Gas giant, Puffy low-density world, Multi-planet system 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.