Key parameters at a glance

A radius of 2.36 Earth radii
A mass of 11.29 Earth masses
Surface gravity around 2.04 g
An orbital period of 45.294 days
Semi-major axis 0.2410 AU
Equilibrium temperature 579 K (306 °C)
Distance from Earth 605.04 light-years
Earth Similarity Index 0.474
Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 10,669,861 years

Context from the literature

Kepler-10c is an exoplanet orbiting the G-type star Kepler-10, located around 608 light-years away in Draco. Its discovery was announced by the Kepler space telescope team in May 2011, although it had been seen as a planetary candidate since January 2011, when Kepler-10b was discovered. The team confirmed the observation using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and a technique called BLENDER that ruled out most false positives. Kepler-10c was the third transiting planet to be confirmed statistically, after Kepler-9d and Kepler-11g. The Kepler team considers the statistical method that led to the discovery of Kepler-10c as what will be necessary to confirm many planets in Kepler's field of view.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

2 siblings around Kepler-10

Kepler-10 c shares its host star with 2 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet	Type	Radius (R⊕)	Mass (M⊕)	Period (d)	Eq. T (K)	Year
Kepler-10 b	Super-Earth	1.47	3.24	0.837	2,188	2011
Kepler-10 c this	Sub-Neptune	2.36	11.29	45.294	579	2011
Kepler-10 d	Sub-Neptune	3.49	12.00	151.060	387	2023

Kepler-10 c Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius

2.36 R⊕

Radius (Jupiter)

0.210 R♃

Mass

11.29 M⊕

Mass (Jupiter)

0.036 M♃

Density

4.75 g/cm³

Surface Gravity

2.04 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.474

HZ Position Inner

Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2011

Method Transit

Facility Kepler

Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1412of 1978

top 71.3%

This planet

2.36R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Kepler-1806 b 2.36 R⊕ Kepler-1842 b 2.35 R⊕ Kepler-68 b 2.36 R⊕

Metric	Earth	Kepler-10 c	Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)	1.00	2.36	11.21
Mass (M⊕)	1.00	11.29	317.83
Density (g/cm³)	5.51	4.75	1.33
Surface Gravity (g)	1.00	2.04	2.53
Insolation (S⊕)	1.00	18.30	0.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method	Value	Interpretation
Best measured mass	11.290 M⊕	Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i)	12.071 M⊕	Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 377780790

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2132155017099178624

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2132155017099178624

System

Kepler-10

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.355 R⊕ · percentile 29 / cohort 1978

Mass 11.290 M⊕ · percentile 82 / cohort 1978

Orbital period 45.29 d · percentile 83 / cohort 1946

Distance 185.51 pc · percentile 28 / cohort 1975

ESI 0.474 · percentile 67 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period

45.294 days

Semi-major axis

0.2410 AU

Eccentricity

0.136

Inclination

89.62 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 45.29 Earth days (12.4% of a terrestrial year) on a mildly elliptical path at a mean orbital distance of 0.2410 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.048 %

Duration

6.871 h

Impact parameter b

0.318

Rp / R★

0.020414

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,062.2665

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 477 ppm lasting ≈ 6.87 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.020414

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

48.750

Impact parameter (b)

0.318

RV semi-amplitude (K)

2.190 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,062.2665

Long. of periastron (ω)

330.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

1.30000

Eq. Temperature

579K

(306 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

18.30

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.474

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water.

Detection Signatures

Transit photometry

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

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Transit timing variations

Gravitational interactions from neighbours have been detected.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Fressin et al. 2011

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2011-11

Observation locale

Space

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2011 at Kepler (12 shown).

Kepler-22 b · Sub-Neptune Kepler-20 d · Sub-Neptune Kepler-26 c · Sub-Neptune Kepler-19 c · Sub-Neptune Kepler-26 b · Sub-Neptune Kepler-28 c · Super-Earth Kepler-20 f · Rocky Terrestrial Kepler-42 d · Rocky Terrestrial Kepler-16 b · Neptune-like Kepler-28 b · Super-Earth Kepler-34 b · Neptune-like Kepler-29 c · Sub-Neptune

Host System: Kepler-10

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,708 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

10.60 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.065 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.910 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.15

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.344 dex

Stellar density

1.068 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-98.74 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

2.04 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance

185.51 parsec

Light-years 605.04 ly

V-band magnitude

11.04 mag

Voyager-speed travel 10,669,861 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

Astrometric Data

Parallax

5.362 mas

Total Proper Motion

45.346 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-18.39 mas/yr

PM Declination

41.45 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.173 · y = -0.616 · z = 0.769

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 285.67930° · Dec 50.24148°

Galactic ℓ, b

80.490° · 18.816°

Ecliptic λ, β

303.697° · 71.850°

HTM-20 index

512815427

Observation Record

RV measurements

Transmission spectra

Archive notes

Wikipedia → Image: Wikimedia Commons · Aldaron, a.k.a. Aldaron · CC BY-SA 3.0