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Entering orbit…
Habitability
0/ 100
Uninhabitable

Reading Elias 2-24 b’s atmosphere

Dominant elements: H, He, O, C, NThis is what a telescope would measure while Elias 2-24 b crosses in front of its star: starlight passes through the atmosphere and spreads into a rainbow band. Each dark line marks a wavelength the atmosphere absorbed.Every element absorbs its own signature wavelengths — hydrogen always darkens the same two spots, calcium another pair, and so on. Astronomers match the lines in a real spectrum against a library of these signatures to say what an atmosphere is made of, light-years away, without ever visiting. A deeper line generally means more of that element is present.Elias 2-24 b sits about 444 light-years away, found by the imaging method. Most catalogued distances trace back to parallax: as Earth orbits the Sun, a nearby star appears to shift very slightly against the distant background stars, and the size of that shift gives its distance directly.

Elias 2-24 b

Also written Elias 2-24b, Elias 2 24b, Elias 2 24 b

Gas GiantUninhabitable443 light years awayFound 2026

Estimated: this planet doesn't transit its star, so its size is inferred, not measured

Elias 2-24 b, from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (found 2026). Measured: 938 Earth masses, 54.9 AU, a 4483 K K-type star. Composition inferred from a mass of 938 Earths, which is giant territory whatever its 0.41x density suggests, with an assumed 24-hour day — rotation cannot be measured for exoplanets.

Host star

Elias 2-24

Type
K-type (Orange)
Spectral type
K6
Temperature
4,483 K
Mass
0.78 ☉
Known planets
1 (this one)

Published by the NASA Exoplanet Archive. This star’s luminosity has not been published, so this world’s temperature and habitability score fall back to a typical K-type star.

Gas Giant

Magnetic FieldExtreme Activity
Why is this a Gas Giant?Elias 2-24 b has 86.0% hydrogen and helium, combined with a mass of 938.0x Earth, which exceeds the gas giant threshold.
Gas giants form when massive cores capture enormous atmospheres of light gases. They typically form beyond the 'frost line' where volatiles can condense.
Classification Criteria:
✓ Hydrogen + Helium: 86.0% (>60% required)✓ Mass: 938.0x Earth (>10x required)
Further reading
Exoplanets: Diamond Worlds, Super Earths, Pulsar PlanetsMichael Summers & James TrefilThe strange end of the catalogue — carbon worlds, molten rock, planets orbiting dead stars.The Little Book of ExoplanetsJoshua WinnHow these worlds are found, and what a measurement can honestly tell us.Envisioning ExoplanetsMichael CarrollWhat these worlds might look like from the ground, painted from the same measurements this page renders.Imagined LifeJames Trefil & Michael SummersWhat could live on a world like this one: ice shells, supergravity, tidally locked twilight.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases — if you buy through these links, TerraForge may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Habitability ScoreUninhabitable
0
Contributing Factors
temperature0
Near absolute zero - all molecular activity ceases, impossible for life
atmosphere30
Hydrogen-rich atmosphere typical of gas giants
water15
No solid surface — any water is locked in a supercritical mantle and hot ice, not oceans
magnetic Field100
Magnetic field provides radiation protection
geology40
Extreme volcanic activity may be hazardous
Organic Chemistry80
Core organic elements (CHNO) present
rotation100
Optimal rotation period - balanced day/night cycle, moderate weather, and good heat distribution

Physical Properties

Mass
938.00x Earth (5.60e+27 kg)
Radius
9.79x Earth (62,365 km)
This planet: 9.79× Earth radiusEarth: 1× (baseline)
Surface Gravity
9.79x Earth (96.0 m/s²)
Surface Temperature
30 K (-243 °C / -406 °F)
Rotation Period
24.0 hours/day
This planet: 24 h/dayEarth: 24 h/day

Orbital Environment

Star Type
K-type (Orange)
Distance from Star
54.90 AU (8.21 billion km)
Orbital Period
486.2 years

Atmosphere

Hydrogen and helium dominated with trace methane and ammonia

Elemental Composition

H - Hydrogen
53.8%
He - Helium
32.3%
O - Oxygen
5.4%

Surface Characteristics

No solid surface - thick gaseous envelope with possible rocky core deep within
A banded gas giant with four moons in different colors: a yellow sulfur moon, two rust-red rock moons and a blue water moon

New: Choose What Your Moons Are Made Of 🌙

Every moon used to be grey rock, white ice or blue ocean, decided for you. Now each one has a "Made of" choice in the builder's Moons tab — silicate rock, iron, water ice, carbon, sulfur, or nitrogen and methane ice — and the physics decides what that becomes. Put water ice too close to the star and it boils off to bare rock. Put sulfur where a neighbouring moon keeps it tidally flexed and it erupts in Io's yellows. Give a Titan-sized moon nitrogen ice far from the sun and it wraps itself in haze. Hang a water moon about the mass of Earth off a giant planet in the habitable zone and it can hold air and open seas — scored for life on the same scale as a planet, with a day as long as its orbit. A tint slider nudges the colour, but only as far as that material could really go.

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