What it’s like to stand here
HD 211970 b
weight
≥ 0.97 g
sun
4.0× wider
sky
amber-orange

Illustration computed from this world’s measured and derived values, not a photograph.

HD 211970 b

HD 211970 b is a confirmed Neptune-like exoplanet 42.8 ly from Earth in the constellation Grus, discovered in 2019 by Las Campanas Observatory.

Radial Velocity: spotted by the gravitational wobble the planet tugs in its star.

HD 211970
host star
3.66 R⊕
radius
13.00 M⊕
mass · minimum (m·sin i)
25 days
orbital period
126°C (258°F)
avg temp
Human scale

HD 211970 b is a giant ball of gas with no solid surface to stand on; you would simply sink into ever-thicker cloud. Its orange dwarf looks 4.0× wider than ours, bathing the cloud tops in amber-orange light. A year passes in just 25 days, and at an estimated 126°C (258°F) it is warm.

≥ 0.97 g
surface gravity (no solid surface · minimum mass only)
25 days
one year, in Earth time
4.0× wider
how big its sun looks vs ours
amber-orange
midday sky tint
1.0×
how high you could jump vs Earth
likely
likely tidally locked: probably eternal day on one side, night on the other
Calculate your exact weight on HD 211970 b
Earth Similarity Index0.47#765 of 5,788 ranked worlds

How closely this world matches Earth in size and warmth, from 0 to 1 (Earth = 1.0). Computed by gravityfinder. See every world ranked →

What these mean: surface gravity · tidal locking · equilibrium temperature · Earth similarity

If your children grew up herea playful thought experiment
NO GROUND: A DRIFTER, NOT A WALKER

There is no ground here to grow up on, only bottomless sky. A child could never stand, walk, or even fall to a surface, because there isn't one. Under about 1.0 times Earth's gravity and pressure that only climbs the deeper you go, anything built for this world would not look human at all: picture something closer to a deep-sea creature than a person, broad and buoyant, drifting through the cloud decks with no need for legs and no floor to land on.

Body plan
Floating, not upright
With no surface and no fixed up or down, a skeleton built for standing would be useless; a drifting, gas-filled body would not.
Build
Broad and pressure-hardened
Pressure rises without limit toward the interior, so anything alive would have to be built like a deep-sea animal, not a land one.

A playful thought experiment from this world’s gravity, not a prediction about any real person. No human has ever grown up off Earth, so no one truly knows; the direction (taller in low gravity, shorter and stockier in high) follows how growing bodies respond to weight.

Hear how a voice sounds herea computed acoustic demo

Your voice would sound a thin, helium-fast squeak.

There is no surface to stand on; this is the sound at the cloud tops, where the air is mostly hydrogen and helium, the lightest gases there are. Sound races through them at about 1,421 metres per second, 4.2 times its Earth speed, flipping a voice into a thin, cartoon-helium squeak. The temperature behind that number is this world's computed equilibrium temperature; its real atmosphere is unknown. The demo plays the shift capped at 1.8x; the real effect would be even stronger.

sound speed ≈ 1421 m/s · 4.18× Earth

A real voice sample, pitch-shifted (tempo held constant) to suggest the acoustics: a playful approximation, not a precise simulation. Voice: Lingua Libre / Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The journey
Cosmic travel advisory
☆☆☆☆
Do not travel
  • !Persistently hot at around 126°C (258°F), well above anything you would call comfortable.
  • !There is nowhere to land: no ground, no deck, only cloud that thickens into crushing pressure.

A playful read of HD 211970 b’s measured and computed values, not a real advisory.

How long to get there · 42.8 ly away
Jet airliner
51.3 million years
dies en route1000-yr cryo: fails
Parker Solar Probethe fastest craft ever built
66,777 years
dies en route1000-yr cryo: fails
Light speed
43 years
arrives elderly
Warp 10
16 days
arrives thriving
Folding spacetimeinstant, plus 1 hr of paperwork
1 hour
arrives thriving
Size vs Earth
EarthHD 211970 b is 3.7× the width of Earth
Explore from here · roam the neighborhood

Zoom out: star → system → (soon) galaxy arm, host black hole, and a real image of the host galaxy.

Can you see it tonight? · observe
SMALL TELESCOPE NEEDED
Host-star brightnessmag 10.2
ConstellationGrus
To see the host star4-6" (100-150 mm) telescope
Gear bridge

Matched telescope & eyepiece recommendations are coming. Any product links will carry a clear affiliate disclosure.

Common questions

What is the gravity on HD 211970 b?

HD 211970 b is a gas giant with no solid surface to stand on. At its cloud tops, gravity pulls at least 0.97 times as hard as Earth's.

How far is HD 211970 b from Earth?

HD 211970 b lies about 42.8 light-years from Earth.

How long would it take to get to HD 211970 b?

At the speed of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, the fastest craft ever built, the journey would take about 66,777 years.

How hot is HD 211970 b?

HD 211970 b's equilibrium temperature, the balance it reaches from its star's light alone before any greenhouse warming, is about 126°C (258°F).

How long is a year on HD 211970 b?

HD 211970 b completes one orbit of its star in 25 days.

Illustration generated from HD 211970 b's confirmed parameters, not a photograph.