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Exoplanet · gas giant

HD 159868 c

HD 159868 c is a gas giant orbiting the star HD 159868. Its year lasts 351 Earth days. It was discovered in 2012 by the Radial Velocity method.

Host starHD 159868
Distance182.2 light-years (55.9 pc)
Orbital period351 days
Orbital radius1.03 AU
Eccentricity0.184
Radius14 R⊕ · 1.25 R♃
Mass (minimum)244 M⊕ · 0.768 M♃
Density0.489 g/cm³
Equilibrium temperature383 K (110 °C)
Stellar flux received3.38 × Earth
Discovery methodRadial Velocity
Discovery year2012
Discovered byAnglo-Australian Telescope

Habitable zone

Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 3.38 times the light the Earth does, too hot to keep liquid water on its surface.

Its star in the sky

In the planet's sky its star is a disc 1.1° across: 2.1 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.

In the sky

Too faint for the naked eye (magnitude 7.24); binoculars will find it. Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 47° N. South of latitude 47° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in June, the best time to observe it.

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out around the year 1844. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 3.2 million years.

Planets in the same system

Open in the simulation

Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, PSCompPars. Its look in the simulation is a rendering based on the measured radius, mass and temperature.