Gliese 581 e

Planet· orbits Gliese 581

Gliese 581 e - the innermost and lightest confirmed planet (~2.5 Earth masses), a hot rocky world on a 3.1-day orbit. Never imaged.

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Key facts

Mass

1.48 × 10²⁵ kg

2.48 M⊕

Year

3.15 Earth days

Distance from Gliese 581

4,188,740 km

Mass: 1.48 × 10²⁵ kg · 2.48 M⊕
Radius: Not measured; No transit — radius is a model estimate; true size unknown.

Semi-major axis: 4,188,740 km; From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
Eccentricity: 0.01; From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
Inclination: 0.00 °; From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
Orbital period: 3.1 days; From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
Perihelion: 4,146,853 km; Computed from the orbital elements
Aphelion: 4,230,628 km; Computed from the orbital elements
Mean orbital velocity: 96.7 km/s; Computed from the orbital elements

Bulk composition: Presumed rocky (~2.5 Earth masses); 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.

Insolation: 15.8 S⊕ · 15.8× the sunlight Earth receives; Computed from Gliese 581's luminosity and the orbital distance (inverse-square; Earth's sunlight = 1).
Equilibrium temperature: 554 K (281 °C); Computed model value — not measured.

Method: Radial-velocity detection (stellar wobble)
Name: Designated 'e' as the first planet found around its star, following the IAU convention of lettering planets in discovery order from 'b'.

Announced in 2009 - at the time among the lowest-mass planets known around any main-sequence star.

No official imagery available — this object has never been visited and no officially-licensed depiction exists.