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Rare exoplanet 35 EP

HD 113538 b

RA 196.2339° · Dec -52.4464° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
35 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Puffy low-density world +12
  • Frozen world +8
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Gas giant +4
Total score 35

15 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Gas giant · +4
  • Frozen world · +8
  • Puffy low-density world · +12
  • Multi-planet system · +6

Trivia

What makes it special

  • Frozen world. A deep-frozen world, too far from its star's warmth for anything to stay liquid.

Hard to believe

  • It would float. It is less dense than water. Drop it in a big enough ocean and the whole world would bob on the surface.

What it actually is

  • What it is made of. Lighter than Neptune — a puffed-up ball of hydrogen and helium with no surface anywhere on it to stand on.
  • Crowded system. One of at least 2 planets orbiting its star.

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 9.1 you'll want a small backyard telescope.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around April — that's when to go looking.

Properties

density gcc
0.273
diameter km
168381.84
discovery facility
La Silla Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2010
dist ly
53.1037
eccentricity
0.14
eq temp k
140.67
host star teff
4462
insolation
0.0585
mag
9.05
mass earth
114.41
name
HD 113538 b
orbital period days
663.2
radius earth
13.2
semi major au
1.24
spect
K9 V
sys num planets
2
sys num stars
1

About HD 113538 b

HD 113538 b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 53.1 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 9.05, has spectral type K9 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 141 K.

A deep-frozen world, too far from its star's warmth for anything to stay liquid.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 9.05, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 113538 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 113538 b is a rare exoplanet

HD 113538 b scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 15 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Gas giant, Frozen world, Puffy low-density world and Multi-planet system — 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.