Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2018

K2-281 b

A neptune-like orbiting the k-type orange K2-281, located approximately 1,494.2 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 8.18 Earth radii
  • A mass of 50.90 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.76 g
  • An orbital period of 8.688 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0773 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 665 K (392 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,494.25 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.225
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 26,351,059 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

K2-281 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
8.18 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.730 R♃
Mass
50.90 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.160 M♃
Density
0.51 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.76 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Neptune-like

ESI Score 0.225
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

#144of 574

top 24.9%

This planet

8.18R⊕

Neptune-like median

6.39R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth K2-281 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.008.1811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0050.90317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.511.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.762.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 380884458

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2577432178095422976

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2577432178095422976

System

K2-281

Percentile among Neptune-like cohort

Radius 8.180 R⊕ · percentile 74 / cohort 574
Mass 50.900 M⊕ · percentile 71 / cohort 574
Orbital period 8.69 d · percentile 34 / cohort 524
Distance 458.14 pc · percentile 55 / cohort 572
ESI 0.225 · percentile 34 / cohort 574

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
8.688 days
Semi-major axis
0.0773 AU
Eccentricity
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 8.69 Earth days (2.4% of a terrestrial year) at a mean orbital distance of 0.0773 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.239 %

Duration

2.750 h

Impact parameter b

0.230

Rp / R★

0.098700

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,393.8821

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 12,388 ppm lasting ≈ 2.75 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.098700

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

25.900

Impact parameter (b)

0.230

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,393.8821

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.16900

Eq. Temperature

665K

(392 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.225

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

2018-12

Observation locale

Space

Host System: K2-281

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,812 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.760 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.820 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.22

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.590 dex

Stellar density

4.354 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
458.14 parsec
Light-years 1,494.25 ly
V-band magnitude
15.05 mag
Voyager-speed travel 26,351,059 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 17 bands

8.818.118.08U16.22B15.05V14.77Gaia14.76Kepler14.10TESS15.68Sloan g14.69Sloan r14.36Sloan i14.19Sloan z13.20J12.63H12.52K12.46W112.55W212.13W38.76W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.154 mas

Total Proper Motion

22.723 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

22.70 mas/yr

PM Declination

0.98 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.952 · y = 0.277 · z = 0.127

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 16.22747° · Dec 7.26922°

Galactic ℓ, b

128.830° · -55.448°

Ecliptic λ, β

17.734° · 0.334°

HTM-20 index

1972060006

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