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Rare exoplanet 46 EP

61 Vir b

RA 199.5965° · Dec -18.3158° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
46 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Its star is visible to the naked eye +12
  • Tidally locked +10
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Sub-Neptune +5
Total score 46

4 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Sub-Neptune · +5
  • Tidally locked · +10
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Its star is visible to the naked eye · +12
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +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. Too light to be solid rock and too heavy to be all gas: most likely a deep global ocean or a thick steamy envelope over a rocky core.
  • Crowded system. One of at least 3 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 4.7 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site.
  • 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.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

density gcc
2.98
diameter km
26915.582
discovery facility
Multiple Observatories
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2009
dist ly
27.7341
eccentricity
0.12
eq temp k
1177.85
host star teff
5577
insolation
318.8418
mag
4.6955
mass earth
5.1
name
61 Vir b
orbital period days
4.215
radius earth
2.11
semi major au
0.0502
spect
G5 V
sys num planets
3
sys num stars
1
tidally locked
yes
tidally locked inferred
yes

About 61 Vir b

61 Vir b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 27.7 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 4.7, has spectral type G5 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 1,178 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 4.7, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 61 Vir 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 61 Vir b is a rare exoplanet

61 Vir b scores 46 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Sub-Neptune, Tidally locked, Multi-planet system, Its star is visible to the naked eye and Orbits a Sun-like star — 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.