Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2018

K2-251 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange K2-251, located approximately 479.5 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.35 Earth radii
  • A mass of 6.12 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.11 g
  • An orbital period of 9.301 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0694 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 437 K (164 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 479.55 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.571
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 8,456,814 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

K2-251 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.35 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.210 R♃
Mass
6.12 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.019 M♃
Density
2.59 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.11 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.571
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

#1416of 1978

top 71.5%

This planet

2.35R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth K2-251 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.3511.21
Mass (M⊕)1.006.12317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.591.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.112.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 156584871

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3675248118423392256

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3675248118423392256

System

K2-251

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.350 R⊕ · percentile 28 / cohort 1978
Mass 6.120 M⊕ · percentile 27 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 9.30 d · percentile 31 / cohort 1946
Distance 147.03 pc · percentile 25 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.571 · percentile 79 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
9.301 days
Semi-major axis
0.0694 AU
Eccentricity
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 9.30 Earth days (2.5% of a terrestrial year) at a mean orbital distance of 0.0694 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.214 %

Duration

2.700 h

Impact parameter b

0.440

Rp / R★

0.043700

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,589.0782

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 2,140 ppm lasting ≈ 2.70 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.043700

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

20.600

Impact parameter (b)

0.440

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,589.0782

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.47200

Eq. Temperature

437K

(164 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.571

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

Primary reference

Livingston et al. 2018

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2018-08

Observation locale

Space

Host System: K2-251

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

3,717 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.490 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.520 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.04

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.760 dex

Stellar density

5.744 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
147.03 parsec
Light-years 479.55 ly
V-band magnitude
15.66 mag
Voyager-speed travel 8,456,814 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 12 bands

8.617.217.17B15.66V14.77Gaia14.81Kepler13.69TESS12.34J11.71H11.52K11.37W111.30W211.34W38.60W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

6.773 mas

Total Proper Motion

21.082 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

10.96 mas/yr

PM Declination

-18.01 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.972 · y = -0.183 · z = -0.148

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 190.68924° · Dec -8.53598°

Galactic ℓ, b

299.255° · 54.274°

Ecliptic λ, β

193.163° · -3.625°

HTM-20 index

1775857545

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