GQ Lup b: 2650 Kelvin
Gas giant around GQ Lup
It is 3.00 times Jupiter's radius, closest in size to Jupiter, and 6356.0 times Earth's mass. Its equilibrium temperature is 2650 K, hotter than the surface of many stars.
Radius
33.60 Earth radii
Mass
6356.0 Earth masses
Equilibrium temperature
2650 K (measured)
Orbit radius
100.0000 AU
Distance
493 light-years
2650K: hot enough to vaporise rock on the dayside
Known and unknown, as the archive has it
A size. Yes.
A mass. Yes.
A density, the one clue to composition. No.
How far out it orbits. Yes.
A temperature someone observed rather than calculated. Yes.
The shape of the orbit. No.
What a direct image buys you
A position, a brightness, and light that can be split into a spectrum.
Found by Paranal Observatory in 2004.
This is one of the rare planets that has actually been photographed. Fewer than a hundred of the thousands known were found this way, and they are mostly young giants far from their stars.
Fewer than a hundred planets have been photographed rather than inferred. Does \
seeing one directly change how real it feels to you?
