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Epic exoplanet 55 EP

K2-38 b

RA 240.0333° · Dec -23.1894° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
55 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Denser than iron +18
  • Tidally locked +10
  • Super-Earth +8
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
Total score 55

23 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Super-Earth · +8
  • Tidally locked · +10
  • Denser than iron · +18
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +8

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • Denser than iron. It is packed tighter than solid iron — whatever it is made of, it is not ordinary rock.

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.
  • Crowded system. One of at least 2 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 11.3 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 May — that's when to go looking.

Properties

density gcc
11
diameter km
19644.548
discovery facility
K2
discovery method
Transit
discovery year
2016
dist ly
628.47
eccentricity
0.197
eq temp k
1266
host star teff
5731
inclination
88.36
insolation
426
mag
11.344
mass earth
7.3
name
K2-38 b
orbital period days
4.0159
radius earth
1.54
semi major au
0.0499
spect
G2 V
sys num planets
2
sys num stars
1
tidally locked
yes
tidally locked inferred
yes

About K2-38 b

K2-38 b is an epic exoplanet. It lies about 628.5 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 11.34, has spectral type G2 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 1,266 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 11.34, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, K2-38 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 K2-38 b is an epic exoplanet

K2-38 b scores 55 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 23 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Super-Earth, Tidally locked, Denser than iron, Multi-planet system 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.