What it’s like to stand here
HD 41004 A b
weight
≥ 4.63 g
sky
warm white

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

HD 41004 A b

HD 41004 A b is a confirmed gas-giant exoplanet 120 ly from Earth in the constellation Pictor, discovered in 2004 by La Silla Observatory.

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

HD 41004 A
host star
13.20 R⊕
radius
807 M⊕
mass · minimum (m·sin i)
2.6 years
orbital period
avg temp
Human scale

HD 41004 A b is a giant ball of gas with no solid surface to stand on; you would simply sink into ever-thicker cloud. Bathing the cloud tops in warm white light. A year here lasts 2.6 Earth years.

≥ 4.63 g
surface gravity (no solid surface · minimum mass only)
2.6 years
one year, in Earth time
sun size, needs orbit
warm white
midday sky tint
0.2×
how high you could jump vs Earth
rotation unknown
Calculate your exact weight on HD 41004 A b

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

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 4.6 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, and we have no temperature for this world, so its cloud-top acoustics cannot be modelled. In hydrogen-helium air sound races, so a voice would leap to a thin, almost cartoonish squeak.

The journey
Cosmic travel advisory
☆☆☆☆
Do not travel
  • !There is nowhere to land: no ground, no deck, only cloud that thickens into crushing pressure.

A playful read of HD 41004 A b’s measured and computed values, not a real advisory.

How long to get there · 120 ly away
Jet airliner
144 million years
dies en route1000-yr cryo: fails
Parker Solar Probethe fastest craft ever built
186,639 years
dies en route1000-yr cryo: fails
Light speed
120 years
dies en route1000-yr cryo: survives
Warp 10
44 days
arrives thriving
Folding spacetimeinstant, plus 1 hr of paperwork
1 hour
arrives thriving
Size vs Earth
EarthHD 41004 A b is 13× 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
BINOCULARS NEEDED
Host-star brightnessmag 8.7
ConstellationPictor
To see the host star50 mm binoculars
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 41004 A b?

HD 41004 A b is a gas giant with no solid surface to stand on. At its cloud tops, gravity pulls at least 4.6 times as hard as Earth's.

How far is HD 41004 A b from Earth?

HD 41004 A b lies about 120 light-years from Earth.

How long would it take to get to HD 41004 A b?

At the speed of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, the fastest craft ever built, the journey would take about 186,639 years.

How long is a year on HD 41004 A b?

HD 41004 A b completes one orbit of its star in 2.6 years.

Illustration generated from HD 41004 A b's confirmed parameters, not a photograph.