![HN Peg b: Photographed, Not Inferred](https://cdn.slatesource.com/b/4/2/b42540e6-6064-45a6-b138-0c036f9fc40d.webp)

# HN Peg b: Photographed, Not Inferred

- [Made in Slatesource](https://slatesource.com/@steph/hn-peg-b-photographed-not-inferred)
- By [Steph](https://slatesource.com/@steph)
- Created on Sep 19, 2026

## Gas giant around HN Peg

It is 1.05 times Jupiter's radius, closest in size to Jupiter, and 6991.6 times Earth's mass.

Radius

11.78 Earth radii

Mass

6991.6 Earth masses

Orbit radius

773.0000 AU

Distance

59 light-years

Known and unknown, as the archive has it

0%

A radius from transit photometry. Yes.

A weight, not just a width. Yes.

A density, so rock and gas can be told apart. No.

An orbital distance. Yes.

A temperature someone observed rather than calculated. No.

An eccentricity, so the orbit shape is known. No.

What seeing it actually provides

A position, a brightness, and light that can be split into a spectrum.

Found by Spitzer Space Telescope in 2006.

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?

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[NASA Exoplanet Archive: source data, including the values not used here](https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/overview/HN%20Peg%20b?utm_source=slatesource)