Gliese 581 c
Planet· orbits Gliese 581
Gliese 581 c - a super-Earth (~6.8 Earth masses) on a 12.9-day orbit near the warm inner edge of the temperate zone; an early candidate for a potentially habitable world, though likely too hot. Never imaged.
Open in 3D viewSee Gliese 581 c in the live, interactive 3D map
Key facts
Mass
4.07 × 10²⁵ kg
6.81 M⊕
Year
12.91 Earth days
Distance from Gliese 581
10,741,127 km
Science
Physical
- Mass
- 4.07 × 10²⁵ kg · 6.81 M⊕
- Radius
- Not measured
- No transit — radius is a model estimate; true size unknown.
Orbital
- Semi-major axis
- 10,741,127 km
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
- Eccentricity
- 0.03
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
- Inclination
- 0.00 °
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
- Orbital period
- 12.9 days
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
- Perihelion
- 10,418,893 km
- Computed from the orbital elements
- Aphelion
- 11,063,361 km
- Computed from the orbital elements
- Mean orbital velocity
- 60.5 km/s
- Computed from the orbital elements
Composition
- Bulk composition
- Presumed rocky super-Earth (~6.8 Earth masses); an early habitable-zone candidate, though probably too hot. Never imaged.
- Surface appearance
- Appearance based on ESO/M. Kornmesser's artist's concept. No spacecraft has imaged this world, so its real appearance is unknown — The surface shown is an artistic representation, shown only in Visual mode; Realism shows a plain spectral colour.
Radiation & temperature
- Insolation
- 2.41 S⊕ · 2.41× the sunlight Earth receives
- Computed from Gliese 581's luminosity and the orbital distance (inverse-square; Earth's sunlight = 1).
- Equilibrium temperature
- 346 K (73 °C)
- Computed model value — likely too hot for habitability; not measured.
Discovery & history
- Method
- Radial-velocity detection (stellar wobble)
- Name
- Designated 'c' as the third planet found around its star, following the IAU convention of lettering planets in discovery order from 'b'.
Announced in 2007 as one of the first super-Earths near a habitable zone, drawing intense attention.
Images
No official imagery available — this object has never been visited and no officially-licensed depiction exists.