Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2025

TOI-6478 b

A neptune-like orbiting the m-type red dwarf TOI-6478, located approximately 125.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 4.60 Earth radii
  • A mass of 19.20 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.91 g
  • An orbital period of 34.005 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1136 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 204 K (-69 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 125.91 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.459
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 2,220,507 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Context from the literature

TOI-6478b is a cold under-dense Neptune-like exoplanet that orbits around TOI-6478, a M-type main sequence star located 126 light years from Earth in the constellation of Hydra. It has a mass of 9.9 Earth masses and a radius of 4.6 Earth radii. The planet orbital period is 34.005019 days.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

TOI-6478 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
4.60 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.411 R♃
Mass
19.20 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.060 M♃
Density
1.08 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.91 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Neptune-like

ESI Score 0.459
HZ Position Outer
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2025
Method Transit
Facility Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
Telescope 0.1 m TESS Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#446of 574

top 77.5%

This planet

4.60R⊕

Neptune-like median

6.39R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth TOI-6478 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.004.6011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0019.20317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.081.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.912.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.000.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 332657786

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 5673934548598976256

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 5673934548598976256

System

TOI-6478

Percentile among Neptune-like cohort

Radius 4.600 R⊕ · percentile 22 / cohort 574
Mass 19.200 M⊕ · percentile 26 / cohort 574
Orbital period 34.01 d · percentile 62 / cohort 524
Distance 38.61 pc · percentile 11 / cohort 572
ESI 0.459 · percentile 83 / cohort 574

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
34.005 days
Semi-major axis
0.1136 AU
Eccentricity
Inclination
89.90 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 34.01 Earth days (9.3% of a terrestrial year) at a mean orbital distance of 0.1136 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

3.421 %

Duration

2.900 h

Impact parameter b

0.186

Rp / R★

0.180270

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,459,454.9010

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 34,206 ppm lasting ≈ 2.90 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.180270

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

104.400

Impact parameter (b)

0.186

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,459,454.9010

Angular separation (arcsec)

2.94000

Eq. Temperature

204K

(-69 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

0.00

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.459

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Beyond the outer HZ boundary (too cold) — surface water would be frozen. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Scott et al. 2025

Instrument

TESS CCD Array

Publication

2025-04

Observation locale

Space

Host System: TOI-6478

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

3,230 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

6.00 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.234 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.230 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.53

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

5.016 dex

Stellar density

18.610 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
38.61 parsec
Light-years 125.91 ly
V-band magnitude
15.99 mag
Voyager-speed travel 2,220,507 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 10 bands

9.116.015.99V14.31Gaia13.00TESS11.39J10.91H10.66K10.49W110.26W210.14W39.11W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

25.874 mas

Total Proper Motion

180.108 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

52.41 mas/yr

PM Declination

-172.31 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.832 · y = 0.480 · z = -0.278

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 149.99181° · Dec -16.15979°

Galactic ℓ, b

253.966° · 29.975°

Ecliptic λ, β

158.354° · -26.515°

HTM-20 index

-430777037

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