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Common exoplanet 17 EP

K2-406 b

RA 230.8872° · Dec -25.3706° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Neptune-like +4
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Neptune-like · +4
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +8

Trivia

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.

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

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 4.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

density gcc
1.08
diameter km
58704.0324
discovery facility
K2
discovery method
Transit
discovery year
2022
dist ly
278.456
host star teff
5784
mag
9.465
mass earth
19.2
name
K2-406 b
orbital period days
22.5494
radius earth
4.602
spect
G4
sys num planets
1
sys num stars
1

About K2-406 b

K2-406 b is a common exoplanet. It lies about 278.5 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 9.46, has spectral type G4 and spans roughly 4.6 Earth radii.

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 9.46, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, K2-406 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 K2-406 b is a common exoplanet

K2-406 b scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Neptune-like 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.