Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

K2-50 b

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange K2-50, located approximately 839.7 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.59 Earth radii
  • A mass of 3.15 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.25 g
  • An orbital period of 8.753 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0705 AU
  • Distance from Earth 839.67 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.870
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 14,807,505 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

1 sibling around K2-50

K2-50 b shares its host star with 1 other confirmed planet. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
EPIC 201833600 c Rocky Terrestrial 1.00 0.97 3.962 2019
K2-50 b this Super-Earth 1.59 3.15 8.753 2016

K2-50 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.59 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.142 R♃
Mass
3.15 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.010 M♃
Density
4.31 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.25 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.870
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2016
Method Transit
Facility K2
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#588of 1176

top 49.9%

This planet

1.59R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth K2-50 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.5911.21
Mass (M⊕)1.003.15317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.514.311.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.252.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0018.800.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 363444743

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3817000078053804672

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3817000078053804672

System

K2-50

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.590 R⊕ · percentile 49 / cohort 1176
Mass 3.150 M⊕ · percentile 45 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 8.75 d · percentile 60 / cohort 1164
Distance 257.44 pc · percentile 28 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.870 · percentile 95 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
8.753 days
Semi-major axis
0.0705 AU
Eccentricity
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 8.75 Earth days (2.4% of a terrestrial year) at a mean orbital distance of 0.0705 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.134 %

Duration

2.680 h

Impact parameter b

0.540

Rp / R★

0.026400

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,456,810.3311

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,337 ppm lasting ≈ 2.68 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.026400

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

20.600

Impact parameter (b)

0.540

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,456,810.3311

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.27400

Eq. Temperature

 

Insolation (S⊕)

18.80

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.870

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

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

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Crossfield et al. 2016

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2016-09

Observation locale

Space

Host System: K2-50

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,326 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.546 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.611 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.742 dex

Stellar density

2.552 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[M/H]

Distance
257.44 parsec
Light-years 839.67 ly
V-band magnitude
14.71 mag
Voyager-speed travel 14,807,505 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 12 bands

8.516.015.98B14.71V14.26Gaia14.25Kepler13.50TESS12.41J11.77H11.66K11.57W111.62W211.32W38.49W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.856 mas

Total Proper Motion

25.710 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

8.75 mas/yr

PM Declination

-24.18 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.978 · y = 0.182 · z = 0.104

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 169.48365° · Dec 5.98829°

Galactic ℓ, b

252.271° · 59.322°

Ecliptic λ, β

167.985° · 1.347°

HTM-20 index

-1905948637

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