Extrasolar Visions - Lalande 21185 c

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Methane Cloud Jovian

Object Type:

Methane Cloud Jovian

Parent Star:

Lalande 21185 (M2 V)

Discovery Status:

Unpublished

Current Planet

Habitability Zone

Mass :

1.6 Jupiters

Mean Distance:

10 AU

Orbital Period:

30 Years

Planet Appearance:

Blue with methane clouds and hazes

Estimated Radius:

1.015 Jupiters ¹

Estimated Mean Temp:

32 Kelvin

Temp from
Internal Heating :

121.62 Kelvins ²

Mean Angular Star Size:

0.023°

Notes:
¹ from planet formation models of Burrows et al
² from planet formation models of Burrows et al

Year Discovered:

1996

Detection Method:

Optical Astrometry

Discovered By:

George Gatewood

Far away from the dim glow of its parent red dwarf, Lalande 21185 c is a world we know very little about, even for extrasolar planets. It may be a medium or small jovian world, akin to Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, in a close orbit. Or it may be a more massive world much farther out. We do know that it has a 30 year orbital period, suggesting a Saturn like orbit.

Such a planet would be unimaginably cold, orbiting so far away from an already dim star. The moons of Lalande 21185 would be dark, frozen and inert, akin to Pluto and its moon, Charon. The planet itself, with an atmosphere made blue by an abundance of methane, would exist in a perpetual twilight.

And there is the possibility of a third planet, still unconfirmed, about which we know nothing. Dark and cold, much is still to be discovered about the worlds of Lalande 21185.

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Lalande 21185 c
Above the nearly featureless clouds of Lalande 21185 C, the planet's dark rings and moons orbit in frigid darkness.

View the Night Sky from Lalande 21185 c...
	Cylindrical All Sky View (750 x 1500 pixels)
	Northern Hemisphere (750 x 750 pixels)
	Southern Hemisphere (750 x 750 pixels)