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Rare exoplanet 48 EP

Gliese 48 b

RA 15.6582° · Dec 71.6782° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
48 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • In the habitable zone +30
  • Orbits a red dwarf +8
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Sub-Neptune +5
Total score 48

2 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • In the habitable zone · +30
  • Sub-Neptune · +5
  • Orbits a red dwarf · +8

Trivia

What makes it special

  • Goldilocks zone. Sits where it's neither too hot nor too cold — liquid water could exist on a surface here.

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.
  • What the zone means. The habitable zone is only about temperature: it is the band where liquid water could survive on a surface. It is a promising address, not evidence of anything living.

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 10 you'll want a small backyard telescope.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around October — that's when to go looking.

Properties

density gcc
2.1
diameter km
35334.674
discovery facility
Multiple Observatories
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2026
dist ly
26.8546
eccentricity
0
eq temp k
271
habitable zone
yes
host star teff
3450
inclination
89.3
insolation
0.89
mag
9.98
mass earth
8.11
name
Gliese 48 b
orbital period days
39.6299
radius earth
2.77
semi major au
0.1752
spect
M3.5 V
sys num planets
1
sys num stars
1

About Gliese 48 b

Gliese 48 b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 26.9 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 9.98, has spectral type M3.5 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 271 K.

Sits where it's neither too hot nor too cold — liquid water could exist on a surface here.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 9.98, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, Gliese 48 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 Gliese 48 b is a rare exoplanet

Gliese 48 b scores 48 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, In the habitable zone, Sub-Neptune and Orbits a red dwarf — 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.