Gliese 876 e
Planet· orbits Gliese 876
Gliese 876 e - the outermost planet, a Neptune-mass world (~15 Earth masses) completing the 1:2:4 resonant chain on a 124-day orbit. Never imaged.
Open in 3D viewSee Gliese 876 e in the live, interactive 3D map
Key facts
Mass
8.72 × 10²⁵ kg
14.6 M⊕
Year
124 Earth days
Distance from Gliese 876
0.334 AU
Science
Physical
- Mass
- 8.72 × 10²⁵ kg · 14.6 M⊕
- Radius
- Not measured
- No transit — radius is a model estimate for a ~15-Earth-mass Neptune; true size unknown.
Orbital
- Semi-major axis
- 0.334 AU
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
- Eccentricity
- 0.055
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
- Inclination
- 0.00 °
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
- Orbital period
- 124.3 days
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial-velocity orbit)
- Perihelion
- 0.316 AU
- Computed from the orbital elements
- Aphelion
- 0.353 AU
- Computed from the orbital elements
- Mean orbital velocity
- 29.3 km/s
- Computed from the orbital elements
Composition
- Bulk composition
- A Neptune-class planet (~15 Earth masses) that slots exactly into the Laplace resonance — the first three-body resonance found beyond the Solar System. Never imaged.
- Cloud appearance
- Appearance based on ESO/M. Kornmesser's artist's concept. No spacecraft has imaged this world, so its real appearance is unknown — The banded clouds shown are a representation of its class, shown only in Visual mode; Realism shows a plain spectral colour.
Radiation & temperature
- Insolation
- 0.111 S⊕ · 11% of the sunlight Earth receives
- Computed from Gliese 876's luminosity and the orbital distance (inverse-square; Earth's sunlight = 1).
- Equilibrium temperature
- 150 K (-123 °C)
- Computed model value for its 124-day orbit — not measured.
Discovery & history
- Method
- Radial-velocity detection (stellar wobble)
- Name
- Designated 'e' under the IAU convention that letters a star's planets 'b', 'c', 'd'... in the order they are discovered (the star itself is the unwritten 'a').
Announced in 2010, it slotted exactly into a Laplace resonance with planets c and b - the first such three-body resonance found outside the Solar System.
Images
No official imagery available — this object has never been visited and no officially-licensed depiction exists.