Your Eyes In Space Open the simulation

Exoplanet · gas giant

HD 164509 b

HD 164509 b is a gas giant orbiting the star HD 164509. Its year lasts 280 Earth days. It was discovered in 2012 by the Radial Velocity method.

Host starHD 164509
Distance173.2 light-years (53.1 pc)
Orbital period280 days
Orbital radius0.87 AU
Eccentricity0.238
Radius14.3 R⊕ · 1.28 R♃
Mass (minimum)141 M⊕ · 0.443 M♃
Density0.265 g/cm³
Equilibrium temperature319 K (46 °C)
Stellar flux received1.74 × Earth
Discovery methodRadial Velocity
Discovery year2012
Discovered byW. M. Keck Observatory

Habitable zone

At the edge of the habitable zone (within the optimistic limits): liquid water would be possible only with a favourable atmosphere.

Its star in the sky

In the planet's sky its star is a disc 0.68° across: 1.3 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.

In the sky

Too faint for the naked eye (magnitude 8.10); binoculars will find it. Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 90° N. 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 1853. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 3.1 million years.

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.