Exoplanet · gas giant
HD 40979 b
HD 40979 b is a gas giant orbiting the star HD 40979. Its year lasts 264 Earth days. It was discovered in 2002 by the Radial Velocity method.
| Host star | HD 40979 |
|---|---|
| Distance | 111.2 light-years (34.1 pc) |
| Orbital period | 264 days |
| Orbital radius | 0.85 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.250 |
| Radius | 12.9 R⊕ · 1.15 R♃ |
| Mass (minimum) | 1,480 M⊕ · 4.67 M♃ |
| Density | 3.8 g/cm³ |
| Equilibrium temperature | 355 K (82 °C) |
| Stellar flux received | 2.7 × Earth |
| Discovery method | Radial Velocity |
| Discovery year | 2002 |
| Discovered by | Multiple Observatories |
Habitable zone
Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 2.7 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 0.76° across: 1.4 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.
In the sky
Too faint for the naked eye (magnitude 6.74); binoculars will find it. Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 46° S. North of latitude 46° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in December, the best time to observe it.
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 1915. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 2.0 million years.
Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, PSCompPars. Its look in the simulation is a rendering based on the measured radius, mass and temperature.