About this world
K2-261 b is a Neptune-like planet orbiting K2-261, a yellow, Sun-like star (type G7IV/V) 696 light-years from Earth. It is about 0.83 times the size of Jupiter and holds 0.22 Jupiter masses. It completes an orbit every 11.6 days at 0.11 AU from its star, closer than Mercury is to the Sun, on a strongly elongated orbit (e = 0.27).
Its equilibrium temperature is about 1,036 K (763 °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 2018 by transit with K2. A planet crosses its star and dims it by a tiny, periodic fraction.