Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2015

K2-4 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange K2-4, located approximately 756.1 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.10 Earth radii
  • A mass of 5.06 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.15 g
  • An orbital period of 10.003 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0780 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 563 K (290 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 756.12 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.476
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 13,334,192 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

K2-4 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.10 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.187 R♃
Mass
5.06 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.016 M♃
Density
3.00 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.15 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.476
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2015
Method Transit
Facility K2
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1818of 1978

top 91.9%

This planet

2.10R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth K2-4 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.1011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.005.06317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.513.001.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.152.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0015.600.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 49462779

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3792100950048409344

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3792100950048409344

System

K2-4

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.100 R⊕ · percentile 7 / cohort 1978
Mass 5.060 M⊕ · percentile 9 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 10.00 d · percentile 34 / cohort 1946
Distance 231.83 pc · percentile 31 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.476 · percentile 67 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
10.003 days
Semi-major axis
0.0780 AU
Eccentricity
0.080
Inclination
89.54 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 10.00 Earth days (2.7% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0780 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.148 %

Duration

2.923 h

Impact parameter b

0.410

Rp / R★

0.033752

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,456,815.5240

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,482 ppm lasting ≈ 2.92 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.033752

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

27.680

Impact parameter (b)

0.410

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,456,815.5240

Long. of periastron (ω)

-41.44°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.33600

Eq. Temperature

563K

(290 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

15.60

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.476

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

Montet et al. 2015

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2015-08

Observation locale

Space

Host System: K2-4

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,015 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.569 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.635 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.12

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.849 dex

Stellar density

2.815 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
231.83 parsec
Light-years 756.12 ly
V-band magnitude
14.86 mag
Voyager-speed travel 13,334,192 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 17 bands

8.618.218.24U16.23B14.86V14.34Gaia14.41Kepler13.53TESS15.69Sloan g14.49Sloan r14.09Sloan i13.53Sloan z12.37J11.75H11.57K11.53W111.56W211.53W38.58W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

4.285 mas

Total Proper Motion

23.998 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-23.95 mas/yr

PM Declination

-1.45 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.993 · y = 0.091 · z = -0.068

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 174.74554° · Dec -3.90557°

Galactic ℓ, b

270.755° · 54.376°

Ecliptic λ, β

176.728° · -5.672°

HTM-20 index

747488225

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