- weight
- ≈ 0.91 g
- sky
- warm white
Illustration computed from this world’s measured and derived values, not a photograph.
K2-406 b
K2-406 b is a confirmed Neptune-like exoplanet 278 ly from Earth in the constellation Libra, discovered in 2022 by K2.
Transit: spotted by the tiny, repeating dip in its star’s light each time the planet crosses in front of it.
K2-406 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 passes in just 23 days.
What these mean: surface gravity · tidal locking · equilibrium temperature
If your children grew up herea playful thought experiment
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 0.9 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.
- !There is nowhere to land: no ground, no deck, only cloud that thickens into crushing pressure.
A playful read of K2-406 b’s measured and computed values, not a real advisory.
How long to get there · 278 ly away
No other confirmed planets here yet. New ones auto-appear as telescopes report.
Zoom out: star → system → (soon) galaxy arm, host black hole, and a real image of the host galaxy.
Matched telescope & eyepiece recommendations are coming. Any product links will carry a clear affiliate disclosure.
What is the gravity on K2-406 b?
K2-406 b is a gas giant with no solid surface to stand on. At its cloud tops, gravity pulls about 0.91 times as hard as Earth's.
How far is K2-406 b from Earth?
K2-406 b lies about 278 light-years from Earth.
How long would it take to get to K2-406 b?
At the speed of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, the fastest craft ever built, the journey would take about 434,282 years.
How long is a year on K2-406 b?
K2-406 b completes one orbit of its star in 23 days.
Illustration generated from K2-406 b's confirmed parameters, not a photograph.