Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2014

Kepler-120 c

A super-earth orbiting the m-type red dwarf Kepler-120, located approximately 1,267.5 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.53 Earth radii
  • A mass of 2.96 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.26 g
  • An orbital period of 12.795 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0880 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 455 K (182 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,267.54 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.640
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 22,353,068 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

1 sibling around Kepler-120

Kepler-120 c shares its host star with 1 other confirmed planet. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
Kepler-120 b Sub-Neptune 2.15 8.50 6.313 575 2014
Kepler-120 c this Super-Earth 1.53 2.96 12.795 455 2014

Kepler-120 c Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.53 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.136 R♃
Mass
2.96 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.009 M♃
Density
4.54 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.26 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.640
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2014
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#687of 1176

top 58.3%

This planet

1.53R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-120 c Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.5311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.002.96317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.514.541.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.262.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0016.630.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 121458707

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2099740761478810624

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2099740761478810624

System

Kepler-120

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.530 R⊕ · percentile 40 / cohort 1176
Mass 2.960 M⊕ · percentile 37 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 12.79 d · percentile 71 / cohort 1164
Distance 388.63 pc · percentile 39 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.640 · percentile 82 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
12.795 days
Semi-major axis
0.0880 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.64 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 12.79 Earth days (3.5% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0880 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.082 %

Duration

3.450 h

Impact parameter b

0.410

Rp / R★

0.025596

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,963.7646

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 817 ppm lasting ≈ 3.45 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.025596

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

29.290

Impact parameter (b)

0.410

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,963.7646

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.22600

Eq. Temperature

455K

(182 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

16.63

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.640

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Rowe et al. 2014

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2014-03

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-120

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

4,096 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.63 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.534 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.654 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.12

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.732 dex

Stellar density

2.776 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
388.63 parsec
Light-years 1,267.54 ly
V-band magnitude
15.00 mag
Voyager-speed travel 22,353,068 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 17 bands

9.318.218.17U16.91B15.00V14.72Gaia14.74Kepler14.01TESS15.79Sloan g15.08Sloan r14.34Sloan i14.11Sloan z13.02J12.42H12.31K12.26W112.33W212.44W39.25W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.544 mas

Total Proper Motion

11.812 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-10.18 mas/yr

PM Declination

-5.99 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.238 · y = -0.736 · z = 0.634

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 287.89157° · Dec 39.33910°

Galactic ℓ, b

70.616° · 13.219°

Ecliptic λ, β

299.313° · 60.970°

HTM-20 index

-623648866

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