GJ 1214

Star type

g M4.5

Distance from Earth

g 42.217 ly

Star Service No.

g NA

Age

g NA

Diameter/Mass/Temp (xSol)
g NA; 16%; NA

Brightness (xSol)

g NA

Metallicity

g NA

Comparison to Sol

g NA

Picture of star

g See upper right for illustration of GJ 1214b with star in distance; illustration courtesy ESO/L

Star system features
g Subject of 2012 paper “The Flat Transmission Spectrum of the Super-Earth Gj1214b from Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope”

Known planets
g GJ 1214b: This 6.5 x Earth mass Super Earth is a mere 1.3 million miles (0.04 AU) from its star; the atmosphere on the 2.7 x Earth diameter (about 34,442 km) world is about 200 miles thick. This atmosphere is most likely dominated by dense water vapor or blanketed by a haze of clouds that is blocking other chemicals underneath. Given the closeness to its star and the thick atmopshere, Earth-like life could not exist there. The surface temperature is about 400 F (2700 C) to 450 F and the 20,000 G atmosphere condenses surface water into Ice 7, a crystalline form of water. Planet probably cloaked in dark fog of superheated steam and gases. It takes 38 hours (1.6 days) to orbit star at a distance of 1.3 million miles. Theorists expect that GJ 1214b formed farther out from its star, where water ice was plentiful, and migrated inward early in the system’s history. In the process, it would have passed through the star’s habitable zone.

Habitable zone
g NA

Orbital map
g NA

View from star
g NA

Nearby stars
(Star systems with 10 light years)
g NA

Map locating star system
g NA

Location in Earth sky
g In constellation Ophiuchus

Other names
g YPC 3913.01, LHS 3275, G 139-21

Sci-fi mentions
g NA

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