Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2011

Kepler-12 b

A gas giant orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) Kepler-12, located approximately 2,874.7 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 19.66 Earth radii
  • A mass of 137.30 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.36 g
  • An orbital period of 4.438 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0553 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,480 K (1207 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 2,874.69 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.057
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 50,695,214 years

Kepler-12 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
19.66 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.754 R♃
Mass
137.30 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.432 M♃
Density
0.11 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.36 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.057
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

#34of 1771

top 1.9%

This planet

19.66R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-12 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0019.6611.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00137.30317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.111.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.362.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00877.540.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 137.303 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 405717754

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2133599775377340672

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2133599775377340672

System

Kepler-12

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 19.661 R⊕ · percentile 98 / cohort 1771
Mass 137.303 M⊕ · percentile 10 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 4.44 d · percentile 33 / cohort 1533
Distance 881.39 pc · percentile 85 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.057 · percentile 7 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
4.438 days
Semi-major axis
0.0553 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
88.80 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 4.44 Earth days (1.2% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0553 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.672 %

Duration

4.698 h

Impact parameter b

0.168

Rp / R★

0.118867

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,004.0092

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 16,721 ppm lasting ≈ 4.70 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.118867

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

8.019

Impact parameter (b)

0.168

RV semi-amplitude (K)

48.200 m/s

Occultation depth

0.002 ppm

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,004.0092

Long. of periastron (ω)

182.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.06270

Eq. Temperature

1,480K

(1207 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

877.54

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.057

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

Fortney et al. 2011

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2011-11

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-12

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,947 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.00 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.483 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.166 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.07

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.175 dex

Stellar density

0.508 g/cm³

Rotational v·sin i

0.80 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
881.39 parsec
Light-years 2,874.69 ly
V-band magnitude
13.47 mag
Voyager-speed travel 50,695,214 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.114.314.27B13.47V13.36Gaia13.44Kepler12.96TESS13.78Sloan g13.37Sloan r13.29Sloan i13.27Sloan z12.41J12.11H12.07K12.05W112.08W211.88W39.12W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.106 mas

Total Proper Motion

4.448 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

3.05 mas/yr

PM Declination

3.24 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.180 · y = -0.617 · z = 0.766

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 286.24345° · Dec 50.04037°

Galactic ℓ, b

80.423° · 18.407°

Ecliptic λ, β

304.553° · 71.536°

HTM-20 index

386376558

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