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Uncommon exoplanet 32 EP

HD 163607 b

RA 268.4181° · Dec 56.3925° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
32 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Eccentric orbit +9
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Gas giant +4
Total score 32

2 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Gas giant · +4
  • Eccentric orbit · +9
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +8

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • It would float. It is less dense than water. Drop it in a big enough ocean and the whole world would bob on the surface.

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. Lighter than Neptune — a puffed-up ball of hydrogen and helium with no surface anywhere on it to stand on.
  • 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 8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around June — that's when to go looking.

Properties

density gcc
0.51
diameter km
177311.18
discovery facility
W. M. Keck Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2012
dist ly
221.0865
eccentricity
0.7441
eq temp k
587.13
host star teff
5522
insolation
20.0716
mag
8
mass earth
249.0516
name
HD 163607 b
orbital period days
75.2203
radius earth
13.9
semi major au
0.362
spect
G5
sys num planets
2
sys num stars
1

About HD 163607 b

HD 163607 b is an uncommon exoplanet. It lies about 221.1 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 8, has spectral type G5 and has an equilibrium temperature near 587 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 8, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 163607 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 163607 b is an uncommon exoplanet

HD 163607 b scores 32 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Gas giant, Eccentric orbit, 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.