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Entering orbit…
Habitability
6/ 100
Uninhabitable
TW Hya b rendered in TerraForge from its measured mass, orbit and star

TW Hya b

Also written TW Hyab

Gas Giant196 light years awayFound 2024
Mass
29.90 × Earth
Radius
5.98 × Earth
Gravity
0.84 g
Surface (est.)
777 K
Year
8.3 days
From Earth
196 ly
Mass
29.90 × Earth
Radius
5.98 × Earth
Gravity
0.84 g
Surface (est.)
777 K
Year
8.3 days
From Earth
196 ly

TW Hya system

Type
K-type (Orange)
Spectral type
K8V
Temperature
4,050 K
Radius
1.16 ☉
Mass
0.8 ☉
Planets
1
Luminosity
0.326 ☉

Published by the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. This world’s temperature and habitability score are computed from its star’s published radius and temperature.

TW Hya b0.075 AUYou are here30 M⊕
Habitable zone

Star and planets drawn to scale: the star is 21 times as wide as TW Hya b, so only its edge is in view. Orbits spaced as in the star system view.

exoplanet.euListed by the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia; not yet in NASA's confirmed catalogue.View on exoplanet.eu

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

TW Hya b, from the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia (found 2024). Measured: 29.9 Earth masses, 0.075 AU, a 4050 K K-type star. Composition inferred from a estimated bulk density of 0.14x Earth's, modeled rather than measured since this isn't a transiting planet, larger than even a pure water/ice world of this mass, suggesting a water-rich interior under roughly a 67% hydrogen/helium envelope by mass, with a day locked to its 8.3-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
TW Hya b has 75.3% hydrogen and helium, combined with a mass of 29.9x 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: 75.3% (>60% required)✓ Mass: 29.9x Earth (>10x required)

Reading TW Hya b’s atmosphere

Dominant elements: H, He, O, C, N, SiThis is what a telescope would measure while TW Hya 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.TW Hya b sits about 196 light-years away, found by the radial velocity 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.
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
6
Contributing Factors
temperature3
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
29.90x Earth (1.79e+26 kg)
Radius
3.10x Earth (19,774 km)
This planet: 3.10× Earth radiusEarth: 1× (baseline)
Surface Gravity
3.10x Earth (30.4 m/s²)
Surface Temperature
777 K (504 °C / 938 °F)
Rotation Period
200.2 hours/day (slower than Earth)
This planet: 200 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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