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Epic exoplanet 50 EP

HD 168443 b

RA 275.0160° · Dec -9.5967° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
50 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Found before the year 2000 +18
  • Eccentric orbit +9
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Gas giant +4
Total score 50

28 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Gas giant · +4
  • Eccentric orbit · +9
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +8
  • Found before the year 2000 · +18

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. Denser than Earth — a solid world of rock and iron, with no meaningful atmosphere to speak of by mass.
  • Crowded system. One of at least 2 planets orbiting its star.

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 6.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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
6.66
diameter km
160728.12
discovery facility
W. M. Keck Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
1998
dist ly
129.2377
eccentricity
0.53
eq temp k
641.03
host star teff
5491
inclination
92
insolation
28.2942
mag
6.9212
mass earth
2424.3951
name
HD 168443 b
orbital period days
58.1119
radius earth
12.6
semi major au
0.292
spect
G5
sys num planets
2
sys num stars
1

About HD 168443 b

HD 168443 b is an epic exoplanet. It lies about 129.2 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 6.92, has spectral type G5 and has an equilibrium temperature near 641 K.

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 6.92, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 168443 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 168443 b is an epic exoplanet

HD 168443 b scores 50 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 28 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Gas giant, Eccentric orbit, Multi-planet system, Orbits a Sun-like star and Found before the year 2000 — 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.