Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2018

KELT-21 b

A gas giant orbiting the a-type white KELT-21, located approximately 1,535.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 17.78 Earth radii
  • A mass of 1,242.72 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 3.93 g
  • An orbital period of 3.613 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0522 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,051 K (1778 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,535.80 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.060
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 27,083,776 years

KELT-21 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
17.78 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.586 R♃
Mass
1,242.72 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
3.910 M♃
Density
1.24 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
3.93 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.060
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2018
Method Transit
Facility KELT-North
Telescope Mamiya 645 80mm f/1.9

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#84of 1771

top 4.7%

This planet

17.78R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth KELT-21 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0017.7811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.001,242.72317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.241.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.003.932.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.002,950.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 1,242.715 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 1,242.715 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 332124

TIC

TIC 203189770

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2054523105274216704

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2054523105274216704

System

KELT-21

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 17.777 R⊕ · percentile 95 / cohort 1771
Mass 1,242.715 M⊕ · percentile 71 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 3.61 d · percentile 24 / cohort 1533
Distance 470.88 pc · percentile 73 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.060 · percentile 9 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.613 days
Semi-major axis
0.0522 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
86.46 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.61 Earth days (1.0% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0522 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.990 %

Duration

4.105 h

Impact parameter b

0.423

Rp / R★

0.099520

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,295.9343

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 9,900 ppm lasting ≈ 4.11 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.099520

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

6.860

Impact parameter (b)

0.423

RV semi-amplitude (K)

399.600 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,295.9343

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

-5.60°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.11100

Eq. Temperature

2,051K

(1778 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

2,950.00

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.060

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

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

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Johnson et al. 2018

Instrument

Apogee 4K CCD Sensor

Publication

2018-02

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: KELT-21

Spectral Class

A-type white

Effective Temperature

7,598 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

1.60 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.638 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.458 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.41

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.173 dex

Stellar density

0.468 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-13.00 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

146.03 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
470.88 parsec
Light-years 1,535.80 ly
V-band magnitude
10.48 mag
Voyager-speed travel 27,083,776 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

9.210.810.76B10.48V10.54Gaia10.42TESS10.15J10.12H10.09K10.06W110.11W210.25W39.16W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.095 mas

Total Proper Motion

2.242 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

2.24 mas/yr

PM Declination

-0.11 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.481 · y = -0.692 · z = 0.538

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 304.80003° · Dec 32.58104°

Galactic ℓ, b

71.481° · -1.987°

Ecliptic λ, β

318.821° · 50.290°

HTM-20 index

-1070449284

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