Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2018

K2-240 c

A super-earth orbiting the m-type red dwarf K2-240, located approximately 237.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.80 Earth radii
  • A mass of 3.89 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.20 g
  • An orbital period of 20.523 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1159 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 389 K (116 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 237.80 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.691
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 4,193,638 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

1 sibling around K2-240

K2-240 c shares its host star with 1 other confirmed planet. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
K2-240 b Sub-Neptune 2.00 4.66 6.034 586 2018
K2-240 c this Super-Earth 1.80 3.89 20.523 389 2018

K2-240 c Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.80 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.161 R♃
Mass
3.89 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.012 M♃
Density
3.67 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.20 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.691
HZ Position Unknown
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2018
Method Transit
Facility K2
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#253of 1176

top 21.4%

This planet

1.80R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth K2-240 c Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.8011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.003.89317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.513.671.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.202.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 432247315

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 6257625719430982016

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 6257625719430982016

System

K2-240

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.800 R⊕ · percentile 77 / cohort 1176
Mass 3.890 M⊕ · percentile 71 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 20.52 d · percentile 86 / cohort 1164
Distance 72.91 pc · percentile 15 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.691 · percentile 85 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
20.523 days
Semi-major axis
0.1159 AU
Eccentricity
Inclination
89.66 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 20.52 Earth days (5.6% of a terrestrial year) at a mean orbital distance of 0.1159 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.098 %

Duration

3.192 h

Impact parameter b

0.290

Rp / R★

0.031300

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,458,005.7220

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 980 ppm lasting ≈ 3.19 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.031300

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

48.000

Impact parameter (b)

0.290

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,005.7220

Angular separation (arcsec)

1.59000

Eq. Temperature

389K

(116 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.691

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Insufficient insolation data — the surface is too hot to retain surface water. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Discovery Paper

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2018-10

Observation locale

Space

Host System: K2-240

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

3,810 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.540 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.580 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.10

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.700 dex

Stellar density

4.329 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

0.61 km/s

Rotation period

10.80 days

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
72.91 parsec
Light-years 237.80 ly
V-band magnitude
13.37 mag
Voyager-speed travel 4,193,638 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 13 bands

8.614.814.82B13.37V12.62Gaia12.67Kepler11.64TESS11.99Ic10.39J9.75H9.56K9.47W19.43W29.32W38.55W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

13.688 mas

Total Proper Motion

75.010 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-53.75 mas/yr

PM Declination

-52.32 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.639 · y = -0.706 · z = -0.307

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 227.84937° · Dec -17.87545°

Galactic ℓ, b

343.891° · 33.639°

Ecliptic λ, β

230.302° · -0.054°

HTM-20 index

-1170444833

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