About LkCa 15 b
LkCa 15 b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 515.8 light-years from Earth, has an equilibrium temperature near 67 K and belongs to a system of 2 known planets.
A deep-frozen world far from its star's warmth.
Rare exoplanet 35 EP
LkCa 15 b
RA 69.8242° · Dec 22.3509° · exoplanet
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesRare 46 pts → Epic
- Directly imaged +16
- Frozen world +8
- Multi-planet system +6
- Confirmed exoplanet +5
Total score 35
11 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Confirmed exoplanet · +5
- Frozen world · +8
- Multi-planet system · +6
- Directly imaged · +16
Trivia
What makes it special
- Frozen world. A deep-frozen world far from its star's warmth.
Could we get there?
- Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.
Getting there
- Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 9.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
- Fastest probe ever. ≈ 805.4 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
- At 10% light speed. ≈ 5158 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
- Distance. 516 light-years from Earth.
Look-back time
- Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 1510.
Saying hello
- Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 1032 years round-trip.
By the numbers
- Temperature. A frigid -206°C — colder than dry ice.
How we found it
- Discovery. Found by Large Binocular Telescope Observatory using the imaging method.
Cosmic context
- Crowded system. One of at least 2 planets orbiting its star.
Properties
- discovery facility
- Large Binocular Telescope Observatory
- discovery method
- Imaging
- dist ly
- 515.8222
- eq temp k
- 66.87
- insolation
- 0.003
- name
- LkCa 15 b
- sys num planets
- 2
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, LkCa 15 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 LkCa 15 b is a rare exoplanet
LkCa 15 b scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Frozen world, Multi-planet system and Directly imaged — 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.