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Exoplanet · gas giant

WASP-178 b

WASP-178 b is a gas giant orbiting the star WASP-178. Its year lasts 3.34 Earth days. It was discovered in 2019 by the Transit method.

Host starWASP-178
Distance1,395 light-years (427.7 pc)
Orbital period3.34 days
Orbital radius0.0558 AU
Eccentricity0.000
Radius20.3 R⊕ · 1.81 R♃
Mass528 M⊕ · 1.66 M♃
Density0.37 g/cm³
Surface gravity1.28 × Earth
Equilibrium temperature2,470 K (2,197 °C)
Stellar flux received5,550 × Earth
Discovery methodTransit
Discovery year2019
Discovered byWASP-South

Habitable zone

Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 5,550 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 16° across: 30 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.

In the sky

A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 9.96. 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 May, the best time to observe it.

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out around the year 631. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 25 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.