Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2017

KELT-9 b

A gas giant orbiting the b-type blue-white KELT-9, located approximately 666.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 21.20 Earth radii
  • A mass of 915.35 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 2.04 g
  • An orbital period of 1.481 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0346 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 4,050 K (3777 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 666.84 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.021
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 11,759,762 years

KELT-9 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
21.20 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.891 R♃
Mass
915.35 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
2.880 M♃
Density
0.53 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
2.04 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.021
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

#21of 1771

top 1.1%

This planet

21.20R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth KELT-9 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0021.2011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00915.35317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.531.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.002.042.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0044,900.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 915.350 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 195689

HIP

HIP 101252

TIC

TIC 16740101

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2064327278651198336

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2064327278651198336

System

KELT-9

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 21.196 R⊕ · percentile 99 / cohort 1771
Mass 915.350 M⊕ · percentile 65 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 1.48 d · percentile 3 / cohort 1533
Distance 204.46 pc · percentile 51 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.021 · percentile 0 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
1.481 days
Semi-major axis
0.0346 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
86.79 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 1.48 Earth days (0.4% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0346 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.677 %

Duration

3.916 h

Impact parameter b

0.177

Rp / R★

0.082280

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,095.6857

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 6,770 ppm lasting ≈ 3.92 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.082280

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

3.153

Impact parameter (b)

0.177

RV semi-amplitude (K)

276.000 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,095.6857

Long. of periastron (ω)

90.00°

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

-84.80°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.16900

Eq. Temperature

4,050K

(3777 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

44,900.00

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.021

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.

Orbital-brightness modulation

Host star brightness varies with the planet's orbit.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Gaudi et al. 2017

Instrument

Apogee 4K CCD Sensor

Publication

2017-06

Observation locale

Ground

Discovery cohort

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

Host System: KELT-9

Spectral Class

B-type blue-white

Effective Temperature

10,170 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

0.30 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

2.362 R☉

Stellar Mass

2.520 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.03

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.093 dex

Stellar density

0.270 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-20.57 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

111.40 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
204.46 parsec
Light-years 666.84 ly
V-band magnitude
7.55 mag
Voyager-speed travel 11,759,762 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 12 bands

7.47.77.59B7.55V7.58Gaia7.58TESS7.57Ic7.46J7.49H7.48K7.40W17.51W27.44W37.70W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

4.863 mas

Total Proper Motion

27.224 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

16.73 mas/yr

PM Declination

21.48 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.471 · y = -0.605 · z = 0.642

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 307.85990° · Dec 39.93892°

Galactic ℓ, b

78.913° · 0.249°

Ecliptic λ, β

327.475° · 56.077°

HTM-20 index

773485744

Observation Record

Photometric series

1

Transmission spectra

6

Emission spectra

7

Archive notes

1

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