About HIP 12961 b
HIP 12961 b is a common exoplanet. It lies about 76.2 light-years from Earth, has an equilibrium temperature near 303 K, spans roughly 13.2 Earth radii and weighs about 114.42 Earth masses.
So low-density it would float on water.
Common exoplanet 21 EP
HIP 12961 b
RA 41.6801° · Dec -23.0860° · exoplanet
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesCommon 24 pts → Uncommon
- Puffy low-density world +12
- Confirmed exoplanet +5
- Gas giant +4
Total score 21
3 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Confirmed exoplanet · +5
- Gas giant · +4
- Puffy low-density world · +12
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. ≈ 1.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
- Fastest probe ever. ≈ 119 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
- At 10% light speed. ≈ 762 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
- Distance. 76.2 light-years from Earth.
Look-back time
- Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 1950.
Saying hello
- Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 152 years round-trip.
Standing on it
- A year here. A full year lasts just 57.4 Earth days.
By the numbers
- Size. About 13.2× the width of Earth.
- Volume. About 2300 Earths could fit inside it.
- Mass. Roughly 114× Earth's mass — about 0.4 Jupiters.
- Your weight. You'd weigh about 0.7× your Earth weight standing here.
- Density. Less dense than water — drop it in a big enough ocean and it would float.
- Temperature. A surprisingly temperate 30°C average.
How we found it
- Discovery. Found by La Silla Observatory using the radial velocity method.
Properties
- density gcc
- 0.273
- discovery facility
- La Silla Observatory
- discovery method
- Radial Velocity
- dist ly
- 76.2259
- eccentricity
- 0.17
- eq temp k
- 303.32
- insolation
- 1.5889
- mass earth
- 114.4188
- name
- HIP 12961 b
- orbital period days
- 57.435
- radius earth
- 13.2
- sys num planets
- 1
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, HIP 12961 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 HIP 12961 b is a common exoplanet
HIP 12961 b scores 21 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Gas giant and Puffy low-density world — 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.