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Rare exoplanet 48 EP

HD 86264 b

RA 149.2409° · Dec -15.8954° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
48 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • In the habitable zone +30
  • Eccentric orbit +9
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Gas giant +4
Total score 48

2 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • In the habitable zone · +30
  • Gas giant · +4
  • Eccentric orbit · +9

Trivia

What makes it special

  • Goldilocks zone. Sits where it's neither too hot nor too cold — liquid water could exist on a surface here.

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

  • What it is made of. Denser than Earth — a solid world of rock and iron, with no meaningful atmosphere to speak of by mass.
  • What the zone means. The habitable zone is only about temperature: it is the band where liquid water could survive on a surface. It is a promising address, not evidence of anything living.

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 7.4 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 February — that's when to go looking.

Properties

density gcc
8.77
diameter km
159452.5
discovery facility
Lick Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2009
dist ly
221.1687
eccentricity
0.821
eq temp k
247.01
habitable zone
yes
host star teff
6210
inclination
93.591
insolation
0.5987
mag
7.41
mass earth
3117.261
name
HD 86264 b
orbital period days
1488.7912
radius earth
12.5
semi major au
2.763
spect
F7 V
sys num planets
1
sys num stars
1

About HD 86264 b

HD 86264 b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 221.2 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 7.41, has spectral type F7 V and has an equilibrium temperature near 247 K.

Sits where it's neither too hot nor too cold — liquid water could exist on a surface here.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 7.41, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 86264 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 HD 86264 b is a rare exoplanet

HD 86264 b scores 48 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, In the habitable zone, Gas giant and Eccentric orbit — 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.