About this world
HD 1461 b is a sub-Neptune orbiting HD 1461, a yellow, Sun-like star (type G0V) 76.5 light-years from Earth. It is about 2.4 times the size of Earth (its size estimated from its mass), with at least 6.4 Earth masses (a minimum, measured by radial velocity). It completes an orbit every 5.77 days at 0.063 AU from its star, closer than Mercury is to the Sun.
Its equilibrium temperature is about 1,185 K (912 °C): far too hot for liquid water on its surface. At its size it almost certainly keeps a deep envelope of hydrogen and helium.
It was discovered in 2010 by radial velocity with W. M. Keck Observatory. The star wobbles toward and away from us, Doppler-shifting its spectrum. HD 1461 has 2 known planets; the others are HD 1461 c.