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Epic exoplanet 57 EP

L 98-59 b

RA 124.5329° · Dec -68.3145° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
57 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Earth-sized +16
  • Richly packed system +14
  • Tidally locked +10
  • Orbits a red dwarf +8
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Found by TESS +4
Total score 57

21 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Earth-sized · +16
  • Tidally locked · +10
  • Richly packed system · +14
  • Found by TESS · +4
  • Orbits a red dwarf · +8

Trivia

What makes it special

  • Earth-sized. Genuinely comparable to Earth in size. Worlds in this narrow band are the ones every next-generation telescope is being pointed at.

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.
  • Crowded system. One of at least 5 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 11.7 you'll want a small backyard telescope.
  • Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around January — that's when to go looking.

Properties

density gcc
4.3
diameter km
10676.9394
discovery facility
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
discovery method
Transit
discovery year
2019
dist ly
34.6358
eccentricity
0.031
eq temp k
620
host star teff
3415
inclination
88.08
insolation
24.5
mag
11.685
mass earth
0.46
name
L 98-59 b
orbital period days
2.2531
radius earth
0.837
semi major au
0.0223
spect
M3 V
sys num planets
5
sys num stars
1
tidally locked
yes
tidally locked inferred
yes

About L 98-59 b

L 98-59 b is an epic exoplanet. It lies about 34.6 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 11.69, has spectral type M3 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 620 K.

Genuinely comparable to Earth in size. Worlds in this narrow band are the ones every next-generation telescope is being pointed at.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 11.69, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, L 98-59 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 L 98-59 b is an epic exoplanet

L 98-59 b scores 57 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 21 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Earth-sized, Tidally locked, Richly packed system, Found by TESS 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.