Exoplanet · gas giant
GQ Lup b
GQ Lup b is a gas giant orbiting the star GQ Lup. It was discovered in 2004 by the Imaging method.
| Host star | GQ Lup |
|---|---|
| Distance | 493.1 light-years (151.2 pc) |
| Orbital radius | 100 AU |
| Radius | 33.6 R⊕ · 3 R♃ |
| Mass | 6,360 M⊕ · 20 M♃ |
| Density | 0.921 g/cm³ |
| Surface gravity | 5.63 × Earth |
| Equilibrium temperature | 2,650 K (2,377 °C) |
| Stellar flux received | 1.00 × 10⁻⁴ × Earth |
| Discovery method | Imaging |
| Discovery year | 2004 |
| Discovered by | Paranal Observatory |
Habitable zone
Beyond the habitable zone: it receives only %0.01 of the light the Earth does, a frozen world.
Its star in the sky
In the planet's sky its star is a disc 0.01° across: 0.019 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.
In the sky
A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 11.59. Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 54° N. South of latitude 54° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in May, the best time to observe it.
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 1533. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 8.7 million years.
Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, PSCompPars. Its look in the simulation is a rendering based on the measured radius, mass and temperature.