HD 189733 b

exoplanet · hot jupiter · space discovery

A World Beyond Earth. HD 189733 b is a planet that orbits a star called HD 189733, located about 64.5 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula. That means you'd need to travel faster than anything humans have ever built to reach it in less than a million years.

Found by Transit Method. French astronomers discovered this exoplanet on October 5, 2005, by watching it pass in front of its star like a tiny shadow crossing the sun's face. This clever technique lets astronomers find distant planets they can't see directly.

Superfast Orbit. HD 189733 b zooms around its star once every 2.2 days, moving at 152 kilometers per second. That's incredibly fast compared to Earth, which takes 365 days to orbit our sun.

A Hot Jupiter. This planet is called a hot Jupiter because it's as massive as Jupiter but orbits dangerously close to its star, making it scorching hot. The intense heat and extreme conditions make it impossible for life as we know it to survive there.

Nearly Jupiter-Sized. HD 189733 b is only slightly larger than Jupiter, with a radius 11.4% greater and a mass 11.2% heavier. Despite being a giant world, it's still the smallest type of exoplanet we know.