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Entering orbit…
Habitability
0/ 100
Uninhabitable
K2-261 b rendered in TerraForge from its measured mass, orbit and star

K2-261 b

Also written K2-261b, K2 261b, K2 261 b

Gas Giant694 light years awayFound 2018
Mass
69.00 × Earth
Radius
9.27 × Earth
Gravity
0.80 g
Surface (est.)
1,035 K
Year
11.6 days
From Earth
695 ly
Mass
69.00 × Earth
Radius
9.27 × Earth
Gravity
0.80 g
Surface (est.)
1,035 K
Year
11.6 days
From Earth
695 ly

K2-261 system

Type
G-type (Yellow (Sun-like))
Spectral type
G7 IV/V
Temperature
5,490 K
Radius
1.66 ☉
Mass
1.11 ☉
Planets
1
Luminosity
2.26 ☉

Published by the NASA Exoplanet Archive. This world’s temperature and habitability score are computed from this star’s measured luminosity, not from a stand-in for its class.

K2-261 b0.11 AUYou are here69 M⊕
Habitable zone

Star and planets drawn to scale: the star is 20 times as wide as K2-261 b, so only its edge is in view. Orbits spaced as in the star system view.

K2-261 b, from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (found 2018). Measured: 69 Earth masses, 0.109 AU, a 5490 K G-type star. Composition inferred from a mass of 69 Earths, which is giant territory whatever its 0.09x density suggests, with an assumed 24-hour day — rotation cannot be measured for exoplanets.

Surface. No solid surface - thick gaseous envelope with possible rocky core deep within

Gas Giant
Magnetic FieldExtreme Activity
K2-261 b has 86.0% hydrogen and helium, combined with a mass of 69.0x 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: 69.0x Earth (>10x required)

Reading K2-261 b’s atmosphere

Dominant elements: H, He, O, C, NThis is what a telescope would measure while K2-261 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.K2-261 b sits about 695 light-years away, found by the transit 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.
Further reading
ExoplanetsSara Seager (editor)The field's standard reference: how planets are found, how they form, and what their atmospheres are made of.The Planet FactoryElizabeth TaskerHow planets are made, and why so few of them come out like Earth.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.
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Habitability ScoreUninhabitable
0
Contributing Factors
temperature0
Inferno world - temperatures exceed all possibility of life
atmosphere30

Hydrogen and helium dominated with trace methane and ammonia

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
69.00x Earth (4.12e+26 kg)
Radius
4.10x Earth (26,131 km)
This planet: 4.10× Earth radiusEarth: 1× (baseline)
Surface Gravity
4.10x Earth (40.2 m/s²)
Surface Temperature
1,035 K (762 °C / 1,403 °F)
Rotation Period
24.0 hours/day
This planet: 24 h/dayEarth: 24 h/day

Elemental Composition

A dark ringed planet hanging over the horizon of a rocky moon, its rings lit by a distant sun

New: Stand on Your Moons 🌒

A planet's surface view isn't the only ground any more. Press the surface button on a planet with moons and it asks where to stand: the planet itself, or any moon still in orbit, each tagged with what it became — ocean, ice, carbon, volcanic. Every moon gets its own ground and sky from its own physics: airless rock under a black sky, ice cracked by geysers over a hidden sea, sulfur plains shaking with eruptions, or orange haze you can't see the sun through. And hanging over the horizon, there's the planet you built.

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