Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

K2-85 b

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange K2-85, located approximately 317.1 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.40 Earth radii
  • A mass of 3.20 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.63 g
  • An orbital period of 0.685 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0130 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,355 K (1082 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 317.08 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.215
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 5,591,741 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

K2-85 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.40 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.125 R♃
Mass
3.20 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.010 M♃
Density
5.90 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.63 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.215
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

#923of 1176

top 78.4%

This planet

1.40R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth K2-85 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.4011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.003.20317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.515.901.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.632.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00800.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 3.200 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 14160842

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 49784688211974144

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 49784688211974144

System

K2-85

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.400 R⊕ · percentile 21 / cohort 1176
Mass 3.200 M⊕ · percentile 47 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 0.68 d · percentile 3 / cohort 1164
Distance 97.22 pc · percentile 17 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.215 · percentile 16 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
0.685 days
Semi-major axis
0.0130 AU
Eccentricity
0.240
Inclination
80.21 °

Year Length

A year here lasts roughly 16.4 hours long on a mildly elliptical path at a mean orbital distance of 0.0130 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.040 %

Duration

0.818 h

Rp / R★

0.015500

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,065.3678

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 400 ppm lasting ≈ 0.82 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.015500

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

4.300

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,065.3678

Long. of periastron (ω)

67.59°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.13400

Eq. Temperature

1,355K

(1082 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

800.00

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.215

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

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

Detection Signatures

Transit photometry

A transit dip has been observed from at least one telescope.

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Crossfield et al. 2016

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2016-09

Observation locale

Space

Host System: K2-85

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,232 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.710 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.700 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.14

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.440 dex

Stellar density

2.352 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-3.94 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

3.00 km/s

Activity index (log R'HK)

-4.402

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
97.22 parsec
Light-years 317.08 ly
V-band magnitude
12.42 mag
Voyager-speed travel 5,591,741 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 12 bands

8.413.813.80B12.42V12.06Gaia12.10Kepler11.30TESS10.23J9.61H9.47K9.39W19.46W29.41W38.35W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

10.257 mas

Total Proper Motion

116.428 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

94.03 mas/yr

PM Declination

-68.66 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.482 · y = 0.817 · z = 0.317

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 59.46483° · Dec 18.46495°

Galactic ℓ, b

172.898° · -25.820°

Ecliptic λ, β

61.167° · -1.970°

HTM-20 index

1186637469

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