HD 48948 is a K-type main-sequence star located in the constellation Lynx, approximately 55 light years away, based on a parallax of 59.393 mas. At an apparent magnitude of 8.58, it is too faint to be seen with the naked eye.
It has a stellar classification of K3V, which classifies it as a main sequence star (like our Sun) fusing atoms of hydrogen into helium at its core. Estimated to be 11.5 billion years old, HD 48948 has 0.68 times the mass and radius of the Sun. Its surface has an effective temperature of 4,593 K, giving it the orange glow of a K-type star.
In 2024, three planets were discovered orbiting HD 48948 via radial velocity using the HARPS-N spectrograph, with orbital periods of 7.3, 38 and 151 days, respectively,[1] derived from 189 measurements over a 9.5-year period from 6 October 2013 to 16 April 2023. Of the three planets, the outermost planet, HD 48948 d, a super-Earth weighing Earth masses, is located within the habitable zone.[2] It is the nearest known super-Earth orbiting within the habitable zone of an F-, G- or K-type star, with the only other nearby examples being HIP 38594 b and HD 216520 c.