Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2020

K2-321 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange K2-321, located approximately 253.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.05 Earth radii
  • A mass of 4.86 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.16 g
  • An orbital period of 2.298 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0284 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 830 K (557 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 253.39 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.328
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 4,468,474 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

K2-321 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.05 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.183 R♃
Mass
4.86 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.015 M♃
Density
3.09 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.16 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.328
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2020
Method Transit
Facility K2
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1886of 1978

top 95.3%

This planet

2.05R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth K2-321 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.0511.21
Mass (M⊕)1.004.86317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.513.091.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.162.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0068.550.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 277833995

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3856449627544923392

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3856449627544923392

System

K2-321

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.051 R⊕ · percentile 5 / cohort 1978
Mass 4.860 M⊕ · percentile 6 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 2.30 d · percentile 3 / cohort 1946
Distance 77.69 pc · percentile 17 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.328 · percentile 34 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
2.298 days
Semi-major axis
0.0284 AU
Eccentricity
0.440
Inclination
86.10 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 2.30 Earth days (0.6% of a terrestrial year) on a highly eccentric trajectory at a mean orbital distance of 0.0284 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.099 %

Duration

1.147 h

Impact parameter b

0.470

Rp / R★

0.031500

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,458,141.2676

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 992 ppm lasting ≈ 1.15 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.031500

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

10.250

Impact parameter (b)

0.470

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,141.2676

Long. of periastron (ω)

45.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.36500

Eq. Temperature

830K

(557 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

68.55

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.328

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Discovery Paper

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2020-12

Observation locale

Space

Host System: K2-321

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

3,750 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.595 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.578 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.15

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.650 dex

Stellar density

3.860 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-43.90 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
77.69 parsec
Light-years 253.39 ly
V-band magnitude
13.68 mag
Voyager-speed travel 4,468,474 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 17 bands

8.817.517.46U15.13B13.68V12.82Gaia12.84Kepler11.76TESS15.47Sloan g13.28Sloan r12.31Sloan i12.64Sloan z10.46J9.80H9.57K9.44W19.46W29.35W38.78W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

12.843 mas

Total Proper Motion

120.488 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

50.92 mas/yr

PM Declination

-109.20 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.916 · y = 0.400 · z = 0.044

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 156.40550° · Dec 2.51388°

Galactic ℓ, b

241.809° · 47.321°

Ecliptic λ, β

157.224° · -6.824°

HTM-20 index

-493226519

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