← Back to dex
Uncommon exoplanet 31 EP

GJ 486 b

RA 191.9815° · Dec 9.7494° · exoplanet

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Tidally locked +10
  • Super-Earth +8
  • Orbits a red dwarf +8
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Super-Earth · +8
  • Tidally locked · +10
  • Orbits a red dwarf · +8

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.

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 11.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope.
  • 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 April — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

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

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 462.8 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

density gcc
6.66
diameter km
16442.7418
discovery facility
Calar Alto Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2021
dist ly
26.3347
eccentricity
0.0009
eq temp k
696.3
host star teff
3317
inclination
89.39
insolation
39.2
mag
11.39
mass earth
2.77
name
GJ 486 b
orbital period days
1.4671
radius earth
1.289
semi major au
0.0171
spect
M3.5 V
sys num planets
1
sys num stars
1
tidally locked
yes
tidally locked inferred
yes

About GJ 486 b

GJ 486 b is an uncommon exoplanet. It lies about 26.3 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 11.39, has spectral type M3.5 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 696 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 11.39, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GJ 486 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 GJ 486 b is an uncommon exoplanet

GJ 486 b scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Super-Earth, Tidally locked and Orbits a red dwarf — 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.