Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2021

K2-346 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange K2-346, located approximately 344.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.26 Earth radii
  • A mass of 5.73 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.12 g
  • An orbital period of 26.201 days
  • Equilibrium temperature 450 K (177 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 344.36 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.565
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 6,072,709 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

K2-346 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.26 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.202 R♃
Mass
5.73 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.018 M♃
Density
2.73 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.12 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.565
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2021
Method Transit
Facility K2
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1572of 1978

top 79.4%

This planet

2.26R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth K2-346 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.2611.21
Mass (M⊕)1.005.73317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.731.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.122.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.008.810.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 14570099

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 677884760027950080

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 677884760027950080

System

K2-346

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.260 R⊕ · percentile 20 / cohort 1978
Mass 5.730 M⊕ · percentile 20 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 26.20 d · percentile 70 / cohort 1946
Distance 105.58 pc · percentile 21 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.565 · percentile 78 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
26.201 days
Semi-major axis
AU
Eccentricity
Inclination
89.52 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 26.20 Earth days (7.2% of a terrestrial year).

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.097 %

Duration

3.330 h

Impact parameter b

0.420

Rp / R★

0.029700

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,164.3902

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 965 ppm lasting ≈ 3.33 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.029700

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

56.680

Impact parameter (b)

0.420

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,164.3902

Eq. Temperature

450K

(177 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

8.81

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.565

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

Primary reference

De Leon et al. 2021

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2021-08

Observation locale

Space

Host System: K2-346

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,801 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.700 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.710 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.18

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.600 dex

Stellar density

2.939 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
105.58 parsec
Light-years 344.36 ly
V-band magnitude
11.90 mag
Voyager-speed travel 6,072,709 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 17 bands

8.815.415.43U13.08B11.90V11.68Gaia11.67Kepler11.04TESS12.63Sloan g11.73Sloan r11.40Sloan i11.63Sloan z10.13J9.57H9.50K9.44W19.49W29.44W38.78W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

9.443 mas

Total Proper Motion

133.530 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-126.23 mas/yr

PM Declination

43.54 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.542 · y = 0.747 · z = 0.385

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 125.98649° · Dec 22.66323°

Galactic ℓ, b

201.108° · 29.885°

Ecliptic λ, β

122.890° · 3.239°

HTM-20 index

2125078136

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