← Back to dex
Rare exoplanet 39 EP

GJ 96 b

RA 35.5624° · Dec 47.8802° · exoplanet

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 3 badges
39 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • In the habitable zone +30
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Neptune-like +4
Total score 39

11 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • In the habitable zone · +30
  • Neptune-like · +4

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.

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.
  • 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. 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 9.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope.
  • 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 October — that's when to go looking.

Properties

density gcc
1.06
diameter km
59571.454
discovery facility
Haute-Provence Observatory
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2018
dist ly
38.9153
eccentricity
0.44
eq temp k
257.81
habitable zone
yes
host star teff
3785
insolation
1.0486
mag
9.4
mass earth
19.66
name
GJ 96 b
orbital period days
73.94
radius earth
4.67
semi major au
0.291
spect
M2
sys num planets
1
sys num stars
1

About GJ 96 b

GJ 96 b is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 38.9 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 9.4, has spectral type M2 and has an equilibrium temperature near 258 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 9.4, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, GJ 96 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 GJ 96 b is a rare exoplanet

GJ 96 b scores 39 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, In the habitable zone and Neptune-like — 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.