Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2017

KELT-20 b

A gas giant orbiting the a-type white KELT-20, located approximately 445.0 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 19.51 Earth radii
  • A mass of 1,074.90 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 2.82 g
  • An orbital period of 3.474 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0542 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,262 K (1989 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 444.96 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.049
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 7,846,897 years

KELT-20 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
19.51 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.741 R♃
Mass
1,074.90 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
3.382 M♃
Density
0.81 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
2.82 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.049
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2017
Method Transit
Facility KELT-North
Telescope Mamiya 645 80mm f/1.9

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#38of 1771

top 2.1%

This planet

19.51R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth KELT-20 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0019.5111.21
Mass (M⊕)1.001,074.90317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.811.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.002.822.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.004,362.500.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 1,074.901 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 1,071.723 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 185603

HIP

HIP 96618

TIC

TIC 69679391

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2033123654092592384

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2033123654092592384

System

KELT-20

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 19.515 R⊕ · percentile 98 / cohort 1771
Mass 1,074.901 M⊕ · percentile 68 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 3.47 d · percentile 22 / cohort 1533
Distance 136.43 pc · percentile 42 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.049 · percentile 4 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.474 days
Semi-major axis
0.0542 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
86.12 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.47 Earth days (1.0% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0542 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.309 %

Duration

3.576 h

Impact parameter b

0.503

Rp / R★

0.114400

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,503.1200

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 13,090 ppm lasting ≈ 3.58 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.114400

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

7.420

Impact parameter (b)

0.503

RV semi-amplitude (K)

311.300 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,503.1200

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

3.40°

True obliquity (ψ)

35.60°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.39700

Eq. Temperature

2,262K

(1989 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

4,362.50

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.049

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the dayside is scorched.

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

Lund et al. 2017

Instrument

Apogee 4K CCD Sensor

Publication

2017-11

Observation locale

Ground

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2017 at KELT-North (3 shown).

Host System: KELT-20

Spectral Class

A-type white

Effective Temperature

8,720 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

0.60 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.565 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.760 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.29

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.290 dex

Stellar density

0.641 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-23.30 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

117.40 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
136.43 parsec
Light-years 444.96 ly
V-band magnitude
7.59 mag
Voyager-speed travel 7,846,897 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

7.47.77.67B7.59V7.57Gaia7.55TESS7.42J7.45H7.42K7.36W17.44W27.45W37.40W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

7.301 mas

Total Proper Motion

6.892 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

3.10 mas/yr

PM Declination

-6.16 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.357 · y = -0.777 · z = 0.518

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 294.66141° · Dec 31.21920°

Galactic ℓ, b

65.808° · 4.627°

Ecliptic λ, β

305.141° · 51.692°

HTM-20 index

1394875469

Similar Worlds

Explore Related Categories