Your Eyes In Space Open the simulation

Exoplanet · gas giant

xi Aql b

xi Aql b is a gas giant orbiting the star Libertas. Its year lasts 137 Earth days. It was discovered in 2007 by the Radial Velocity method.

Host starLibertas
Distance183.3 light-years (56.2 pc)
Orbital period137 days
Orbital radius0.625 AU
Eccentricity0.059
Radius13.4 R⊕ · 1.2 R♃
Mass (minimum)617 M⊕ · 1.94 M♃
Density1.41 g/cm³
Equilibrium temperature973 K (700 °C)
Stellar flux received150 × Earth
Discovery methodRadial Velocity
Discovery year2007
Discovered byOkayama Astrophysical Observatory

Habitable zone

Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 150 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 9.2° across: 17 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.

In the sky

Visible to the naked eye under a dark sky (apparent magnitude 4.71). Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 82° S. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out around the year 1843. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 3.3 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.