About K2-291 b
K2-291 b is an uncommon exoplanet. It lies about 293.7 light-years from Earth, has an equilibrium temperature near 1,278 K, spans roughly 1.59 Earth radii and weighs about 6.49 Earth masses.
Packed denser than solid iron.
Uncommon exoplanet 31 EP
K2-291 b
RA 76.4459° · Dec 21.5482° · exoplanet
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesUncommon 33 pts → Rare
- Denser than iron +18
- Super-Earth +8
- Confirmed exoplanet +5
Total score 31
2 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Confirmed exoplanet · +5
- Super-Earth · +8
- Denser than iron · +18
Trivia
What makes it special
- Heavyweight. Packed denser than solid iron.
Could we get there?
- Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.
Getting there
- Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 5.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
- Fastest probe ever. ≈ 458.6 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
- At 10% light speed. ≈ 2937 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
- Distance. 294 light-years from Earth.
Look-back time
- Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 1732.
Saying hello
- Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 587 years round-trip.
Standing on it
- A year here. A full year lasts just 2.2 Earth days.
By the numbers
- Size. About 1.6× the width of Earth.
- Mass. About 6.5× the mass of Earth.
- Your weight. You'd weigh about 2.6× your Earth weight standing here.
- Density. Denser than solid iron.
- Temperature. Around 1005°C — hotter than a self-cleaning oven.
How we found it
- Discovery. Found by K2 using the transit method.
Properties
- density gcc
- 8.84
- discovery facility
- K2
- discovery method
- Transit
- dist ly
- 293.7237
- eccentricity
- 0
- eq temp k
- 1278
- insolation
- 633
- mass earth
- 6.49
- name
- K2-291 b
- orbital period days
- 2.2252
- radius earth
- 1.589
- sys num planets
- 1
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, K2-291 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 K2-291 b is an uncommon exoplanet
K2-291 b scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Super-Earth and Denser than iron — 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.