About this world
GJ 179 b is a gas giant orbiting GJ 179, a cool red dwarf (type M3.5V) 40.3 light-years from Earth. It is about 1.2 times the size of Jupiter (its size estimated from its mass) and holds 0.95 Jupiter masses. It completes an orbit every 6.26 years at 2.4 AU from its star, on a strongly elongated orbit (e = 0.21).
Its equilibrium temperature is about 65 K (−209 °C): too cold for liquid water on its surface. At its size it almost certainly keeps a deep envelope of hydrogen and helium.
It was discovered in 2009 by radial velocity with W. M. Keck Observatory. The star wobbles toward and away from us, Doppler-shifting its spectrum.