astronomy

Gliese 367 b

Gliese 367 b is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gliese 367 b rather than just read about it. In short: Gliese 367 b, formally named Tahay, is a sub-Earth exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 367 (GJ 367), 30.7 light-years (9.4 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation of Vela. The exoplanet takes just 7.7 hours to orbit its star, one of the shortest orbits of any planet.

Key takeaways

Gliese 367 b belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gliese 367 b to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gliese 367 b from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gliese 367 b, formally named Tahay, is a sub-Earth exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 367 (GJ 367), 30.7 light-years (9.4 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation of Vela. The exoplanet takes just 7.7 hours to orbit its star, one of the shortest orbits of any planet. As of 2025, Gliese 367 b is the smallest-known exoplanet within 10 parsecs of the Solar System that has a measured radius, though Proxima Centauri d and the planets of Barnard's Star are less massive and could be smaller.

Nomenclature In August 2022, this planet and its host star were included among 20 systems to be named by the third NameExoWorlds project. The approved names, proposed by a team from Chile, were announced in June 2023. Gliese 367 b is named Tahay and its host star is named Añañuca, after names for the endemic Chilean wildflowers Calydorea xiphioides and Phycella cyrtanthoides. Calydorea xiphioides only blooms for between 7 and 8 hours each year, alluding to the planet's short orbital period of 7.7 hours.

Properties Due to its close orbit, the exoplanet gets bombarded with radiation over 500 times more than Earth receives from the Sun. Dayside temperatures on GJ 367b are around 1,728 K (1,455 °C; 2,651 °F). Gliese 367 b is presumably tidally locked, and any atmosphere, if ever existed, would have boiled away due to the planet's extreme temperatures. Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope provide evidence that the planet indeed lacks an atmosphere, and that its albedo is low. The absence of day–night heat recirculation suggests significant volatile loss, shaping its current atmospheric and surface properties. GJ 367b's exceptional density raises intriguing hypotheses about its origin, from mantle evaporation to Mercury-like collisions. This discovery prompts broader inquiries into the habitability of small rocky planets orbiting M dwarfs and offers valuable insights into planetary formation and atmospheric dynamics across the cosmos. The core of GJ 367b is likely composed of iron and nickel, making it similar to Mercury's core. The core of GJ 367b is extremely dense, making up about 91% of the planet's mass; the entire planet has a total density of 10.2±1.3 g/cm3, about twice that of Earth. The planet may have been stripped of the outer silicate layers, like Mercury and other iron planets, due to collisions or evaporation by the extreme stellar radiation.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gliese 367 b

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gliese 367 b claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gliese 367 b before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gliese 367 b ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gliese 367 b

In research: Gliese 367 b appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gliese 367 b in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gliese 367 b is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Exoplanets detected by radial velocity, Exoplanets discovered by TESS, Exoplanets discovered in 2021, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gliese 367 b outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gliese 367 b in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gliese 367 b means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gliese 367 b out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gliese 367 b in simple terms?

Why does Gliese 367 b matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gliese 367 b?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gliese 367 b.