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 →
| # | World | Equilibrium temp | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| ★ 1 | TOI-3071 b | 1882°C (3419°F) | 1,583 ly |
| 2 | LTT 9779 b | 1705°C (3101°F) | 262 ly |
| 3 | TOI-849 b | 1659°C (3018°F) | 736 ly |
| 4 | Kepler-959 b | 1639°C (2982°F) | 2,634 ly |
| 5 | TOI-2196 b | 1587°C (2888°F) | 848 ly |
| 6 | K2-100 b | 1568°C (2854°F) | 616 ly |
| 7 | TOI-7008 b | 1510°C (2750°F) | 1,339 ly |
| 8 | TOI-3261 b | 1449°C (2640°F) | 979 ly |
| 9 | TOI-2719 b | 1437°C (2618°F) | 1,919 ly |
| 10 | TIC 365102760 b | 1403°C (2557°F) | 1,812 ly |
| 11 | K2-39 b | 1397°C (2546°F) | 1,003 ly |
| 12 | Kepler-1004 b | 1388°C (2530°F) | 3,760 ly |
| 13 | Kepler-4 b | 1377°C (2510°F) | 1,591 ly |
| 14 | TOI-1291 b | 1376°C (2509°F) | 1,396 ly |
| 15 | DMPP-4 b | 1373°C (2503°F) | 82.6 ly |
| 16 | HD 219828 b | 1330°C (2425°F) | 238 ly |
| 17 | TOI-3862 b | 1266°C (2311°F) | 812 ly |
| 18 | Kepler-101 b | 1240°C (2264°F) | 3,027 ly |
| 19 | TOI-6707 b | 1236°C (2257°F) | 2,092 ly |
| 20 | TOI-5599 b | 1223°C (2233°F) | 1,787 ly |
| 21 | TOI-6651 b | 1220°C (2228°F) | 692 ly |
| 22 | HATS-12 b | 1173°C (2143°F) | 2,434 ly |
| 23 | TOI-333 b | 1172°C (2141°F) | 1,149 ly |
| 24 | TOI-2498 b | 1170°C (2138°F) | 898 ly |
| 25 | TOI-5126 b | 1169°C (2136°F) | 523 ly |
Showing the top 25 of 572 that qualify.
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.
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