About tau Boo b
tau Boo b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 51.1 light-years from Earth, has an equilibrium temperature near 1,682 K, spans roughly 12.8 Earth radii and weighs about 1,891 Earth masses.
Its surface is likely an ocean of molten rock.
Rare exoplanet 41 EP
tau Boo b
RA 206.8135° · Dec 17.4572° · exoplanet
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 46 pts → Epic
- Lava world +14
- Hot Jupiter +10
- Blasted by starlight +8
- Confirmed exoplanet +5
- Gas giant +4
Total score 41
5 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Confirmed exoplanet · +5
- Gas giant · +4
- Hot Jupiter · +10
- Lava world · +14
- Blasted by starlight · +8
Trivia
What makes it special
- Lava world. Its surface is likely an ocean of molten rock.
Could we get there?
- Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.
Getting there
- Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 897.1 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
- Fastest probe ever. ≈ 79.7 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
- At 10% light speed. ≈ 511 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
- Distance. 51.1 light-years from Earth.
Look-back time
- Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 1975.
Saying hello
- Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 102 years round-trip.
Standing on it
- A year here. A full year lasts just 3.3 Earth days.
By the numbers
- Size. About 12.8× the width of Earth.
- Volume. About 2097 Earths could fit inside it.
- Mass. Roughly 1891× Earth's mass — about 6 Jupiters.
- Your weight. You'd weigh about 11.5× your Earth weight standing here.
- Temperature. Around 1409°C — hotter than a self-cleaning oven.
How we found it
- Discovery. Found by Lick Observatory using the radial velocity method.
Properties
- density gcc
- 4.95
- discovery facility
- Lick Observatory
- discovery method
- Radial Velocity
- dist ly
- 51.0503
- eccentricity
- 0.011
- eq temp k
- 1682.02
- insolation
- 1333.7826
- mass earth
- 1891
- name
- tau Boo b
- orbital period days
- 3.3125
- radius earth
- 12.8
- sys num planets
- 1
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, tau Boo 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 tau Boo b is a rare exoplanet
tau Boo b scores 41 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Gas giant, Hot Jupiter, Lava world and Blasted by starlight — 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.