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Entering orbit…
Habitability
6/ 100
Uninhabitable
K2-281 b rendered in TerraForge from its measured mass, orbit and star

K2-281 b

Also written K2-281b, K2 281b, K2 281 b

Gas Giant1493 light years awayFound 2018
Mass
50.90 × Earth
Radius
8.18 × Earth
Gravity
0.76 g
Surface (est.)
690 K
Year
8.7 days
From Earth
1,494 ly
Mass
50.90 × Earth
Radius
8.18 × Earth
Gravity
0.76 g
Surface (est.)
690 K
Year
8.7 days
From Earth
1,494 ly

K2-281 system

Type
K-type (Orange)
Temperature
4,812 K
Radius
0.76 ☉
Mass
0.82 ☉
Planets
1
Luminosity
0.225 ☉

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.

K2-281 b0.077 AUYou are here51 M⊕
Habitable zone

Star and planets drawn to scale: the star is 10 times as wide as K2-281 b, so only its edge is in view. Orbits spaced as in the star system view.

K2-281 b, from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (found 2018). Measured: 50.9 Earth masses, 0.0773 AU, a 4812 K K-type star. Composition inferred from a mass of 50.9 Earths, which is giant territory whatever its 0.09x density suggests, with a day locked to its 8.7-day year, as anything orbiting this close would be.

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

Gas Giant
Magnetic FieldExtreme Activity
K2-281 b has 86.0% hydrogen and helium, combined with a mass of 50.9x 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: 50.9x Earth (>10x required)

Reading K2-281 b’s atmosphere

Dominant elements: H, He, O, C, NThis is what a telescope would measure while K2-281 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.K2-281 b sits about 1494 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
6
Contributing Factors
temperature4
Scorching - hot enough to melt lead, though rock stays solid; no chance for life
atmosphere18

Hydrogen and helium dominated with trace methane and ammonia

Hydrogen-rich atmosphere typical of gas giants (partially stripped by slow rotation)
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
rotation30
Very slow rotation - days and nights each last several Earth days, bringing extreme temperature swings

Physical Properties

Mass
50.90x Earth (3.04e+26 kg)
Radius
3.71x Earth (23,611 km)
This planet: 3.71× Earth radiusEarth: 1× (baseline)
Surface Gravity
3.71x Earth (36.4 m/s²)
Surface Temperature
690 K (417 °C / 783 °F)
Rotation Period
208.6 hours/day (slower than Earth)
This planet: 209 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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