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Rare exoplanet 39 EP

GJ 86 b

RA 32.6225° · Dec -50.8210° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
39 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Found before the year 2000 +18
  • Two suns in its sky +12
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Gas giant +4
Total score 39

11 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Gas giant · +4
  • Two suns in its sky · +12
  • Found before the year 2000 · +18

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. Its density says rock, though lighter than Earth's mix: probably less iron, or a thick shell of water and ice over the top.

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 6.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in.
  • 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 October — 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. ≈ 618.1 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

density gcc
3.6
diameter km
164554.98
discovery facility
La Silla Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
1999
dist ly
35.1714
eccentricity
0.04
eq temp k
661.12
host star teff
5182
insolation
33.7048
mag
6.12
mass earth
1404.8086
multi star system
yes
name
GJ 86 b
orbital period days
15.7649
radius earth
12.9
semi major au
0.11
spect
K1V
sys num planets
1
sys num stars
2

About GJ 86 b

GJ 86 b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 35.2 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 6.12, has spectral type K1V and has an equilibrium temperature near 661 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 6.12, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, GJ 86 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 86 b is a rare exoplanet

GJ 86 b scores 39 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, Gas giant, Two suns in its sky and Found before the year 2000 — 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.