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Exoplanet · gas giant

TOI-1278 b

TOI-1278 b is a gas giant orbiting the star TOI-1278. Its year lasts 14.5 Earth days. It was discovered in 2021 by the Transit method.

Host starTOI-1278
Distance246.5 light-years (75.6 pc)
Orbital period14.5 days
Orbital radius0.095 AU
Eccentricity0.013
Radius12.2 R⊕ · 1.09 R♃
Mass5,880 M⊕ · 18.5 M♃
Density18 g/cm³
Surface gravity39.4 × Earth
Equilibrium temperature408 K (135 °C)
Stellar flux received6.54 × Earth
Discovery methodTransit
Discovery year2021
Discovered byTransiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)

Habitable zone

Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 6.54 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 3.2° across: 6 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.

In the sky

A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 13.43. Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 54° S. North of latitude 54° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in August, the best time to observe it.

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out around the year 1780. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 4.4 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.