What is the hottest Neptune-sized planet?

The hottest known Neptune-sized planet is TOI-3071 b, with an equilibrium temperature of about 1882°C (3419°F), hot enough that its atmosphere is being stripped away as it orbits. Everything about TOI-3071 b

Hottest known Neptune
TOI-3071 b
1882°C (3419°F) · 1,583 ly
The top 25
#WorldEquilibrium tempDistance
★ 1TOI-3071 b1882°C (3419°F)1,583 ly
2LTT 9779 b1705°C (3101°F)262 ly
3TOI-849 b1659°C (3018°F)736 ly
4Kepler-959 b1639°C (2982°F)2,634 ly
5TOI-2196 b1587°C (2888°F)848 ly
6K2-100 b1568°C (2854°F)616 ly
7TOI-7008 b1510°C (2750°F)1,339 ly
8TOI-3261 b1449°C (2640°F)979 ly
9TOI-2719 b1437°C (2618°F)1,919 ly
10TIC 365102760 b1403°C (2557°F)1,812 ly
11K2-39 b1397°C (2546°F)1,003 ly
12Kepler-1004 b1388°C (2530°F)3,760 ly
13Kepler-4 b1377°C (2510°F)1,591 ly
14TOI-1291 b1376°C (2509°F)1,396 ly
15DMPP-4 b1373°C (2503°F)82.6 ly
16HD 219828 b1330°C (2425°F)238 ly
17TOI-3862 b1266°C (2311°F)812 ly
18Kepler-101 b1240°C (2264°F)3,027 ly
19TOI-6707 b1236°C (2257°F)2,092 ly
20TOI-5599 b1223°C (2233°F)1,787 ly
21TOI-6651 b1220°C (2228°F)692 ly
22HATS-12 b1173°C (2143°F)2,434 ly
23TOI-333 b1172°C (2141°F)1,149 ly
24TOI-2498 b1170°C (2138°F)898 ly
25TOI-5126 b1169°C (2136°F)523 ly

Showing the top 25 of 572 that qualify.

How we know

Planets of this size are almost missing from the hottest orbits, a gap astronomers call the Neptune desert. The explanation is that a Neptune has enough atmosphere to lose and not enough gravity to keep it: park one close enough to its star and the outer layers boil off into space until only a rocky core remains. The worlds at the top of this table are the survivors, or the ones caught mid-evaporation.

The temperature ranked here is the equilibrium temperature, the balance point a world reaches from starlight alone, before any greenhouse warming. Disputed rows and physically impossible values are excluded. What could unseat this record: transit surveys keep finding the rare ultra-hot Neptunes that the desert should have emptied, and each one is a test of how planets lose their atmospheres.

Common questions

What is the hottest Neptune-sized planet?

The hottest known Neptune-sized planet is TOI-3071 b, with an equilibrium temperature of about 1882°C (3419°F), hot enough that its atmosphere is being stripped away as it orbits.

What is the Neptune desert?

It is the near-empty region of the catalog where Neptune-sized planets on very short orbits should be. Very few exist, because a planet that size close to its star loses its atmosphere: it either keeps enough gravity to hold on, in which case it is a giant, or it does not, in which case it ends up a bare rocky core.

How hot is the hottest Neptune?

TOI-3071 b sits at about 1882°C (3419°F), far above the melting point of rock and hot enough for metals to exist as gas in its upper atmosphere.

Is the hottest Neptune hotter than the hottest planet overall?

No. The hottest known exoplanet is a gas giant, which can sit closer to a hotter star and survive it. This record is scoped to Neptune-sized worlds precisely because the overall temperature ranking is dominated by giants.

Keep exploring: all records · the hottest planet of any kind · what counts as a sub-Neptune