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Epic exoplanet 76 EP

HR 8799 d

RA 346.8701° · Dec 21.1340° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 8 badges
76 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Directly imaged +16
  • Lava world +14
  • Its star is visible to the naked eye +12
  • Long-period world +10
  • Eccentric orbit +9
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Gas giant +4
Total score 76

2 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Gas giant · +4
  • Lava world · +14
  • Long-period world · +10
  • Eccentric orbit · +9
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Directly imaged · +16
  • Its star is visible to the naked eye · +12

Trivia

What makes it special

  • Lava world. Its surface is almost certainly an ocean of molten rock, kept liquid by the star it hugs.

What it actually is

  • 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 4 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 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around September — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Properties

density gcc
7.5
diameter km
165830.6
discovery facility
W. M. Keck Observatory
discovery method
Imaging
discovery year
2008
dist ly
134.5201
eccentricity
0.6
eq temp k
1300
host star teff
7204.58
inclination
38.63
insolation
0.0085
mag
5.98
mass earth
3000
name
HR 8799 d
orbital period days
37000
radius earth
13
semi major au
24
spect
A5 V
sys num planets
4
sys num stars
1

About HR 8799 d

HR 8799 d is an epic exoplanet. It lies about 134.5 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 5.98, has spectral type A5 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 1,300 K.

Its surface is almost certainly an ocean of molten rock, kept liquid by the star it hugs.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 5.98, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, HR 8799 d 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 HR 8799 d is an epic exoplanet

HR 8799 d scores 76 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Gas giant, Lava world, Long-period world, Eccentric orbit, Multi-planet system, Directly imaged and Its star is visible to the naked eye — 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.