What it’s like to stand here
VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b
weight
27.19 g
sky
dim red

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

VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b

VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b is a confirmed gas-giant exoplanet 41.4 ly from Earth in the constellation Corvus, discovered in 2015 by Paranal Observatory.

Imaging: photographed directly, as a faint point of light beside its star.

VHS J125601.92-125723.9
host star
13.67 R⊕
radius
5,085 M⊕
mass · measured
15,880 years
orbital period
921°C (1690°F)
avg temp
Human scale

VHS J125601.92-125723.9 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 dim red light. A year here lasts 15,880 Earth years, and at an estimated 921°C (1690°F) it is furnace-hot.

27.19 g
surface gravity (no solid surface · measured mass)
15,880 years
one year, in Earth time
sun size, needs orbit
dim red
midday sky tint
0.0×
how high you could jump vs Earth
normal
day/night cycle (not tidally locked)
Calculate your exact weight on VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b
Earth Similarity Index0.11#5,021 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 27.2 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 2,458 metres per second, 7.2 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 ≈ 2458 m/s · 7.23× 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
  • !Furnace-hot at around 921°C (1690°F), with no liquid water and no shade anywhere.
  • !There is nowhere to land: no ground, no deck, only cloud that thickens into crushing pressure.
  • !Earth-similarity index 0.11: this world has almost nothing in common with our own.

A playful read of VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b’s measured and computed values, not a real advisory.

How long to get there · 41.4 ly away
Jet airliner
49.7 million years
dies en route1000-yr cryo: fails
Parker Solar Probethe fastest craft ever built
64,602 years
dies en route1000-yr cryo: fails
Light speed
41 years
arrives elderly
Warp 10
15 days
arrives thriving
Folding spacetimeinstant, plus 1 hr of paperwork
1 hour
arrives thriving
Size vs Earth
EarthVHS J125601.92-125723.9 b is 14× 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
FAINT: LARGE TELESCOPE NEEDED
Host-star brightnessmag 17.7
ConstellationCorvus
To see the host star10"+ (250 mm) telescope, dark sky
Gear bridge

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

Common questions

What is the gravity on VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b?

VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b is a gas giant with no solid surface to stand on. At its cloud tops, gravity pulls about 27 times as hard as Earth's.

How far is VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b from Earth?

VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b lies about 41.4 light-years from Earth.

How long would it take to get to VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b?

At the speed of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, the fastest craft ever built, the journey would take about 64,602 years.

How hot is VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b?

VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b's equilibrium temperature, the balance it reaches from its star's light alone before any greenhouse warming, is about 921°C (1690°F).

How long is a year on VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b?

VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b completes one orbit of its star in 15,880 years.

Illustration generated from VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b's confirmed parameters, not a photograph.