Key parameters at a glance

A radius of 1.58 Earth radii
A mass of 1.28 Earth masses
Surface gravity around 0.51 g
An orbital period of 21.870 days
Semi-major axis 0.1620 AU
Equilibrium temperature 790 K (517 °C)
Distance from Earth 774.30 light-years
Earth Similarity Index 0.326
Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 13,654,738 years

2 siblings around Kepler-126

Kepler-126 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-126 b	Super-Earth	1.52	4.12	10.496	1,009	2014
Kepler-126 c this	Super-Earth	1.58	1.28	21.870	790	2014
Kepler-126 d	Sub-Neptune	2.50	54.59	100.283	475	2014

Kepler-126 c Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius

1.58 R⊕

Radius (Jupiter)

0.141 R♃

Mass

1.28 M⊕

Mass (Jupiter)

0.004 M♃

Density

1.70 g/cm³

Surface Gravity

0.51 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.326

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

#603of 1176

top 51.2%

This planet

1.58R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Kepler-111 b 1.58 R⊕ Kepler-445 b 1.58 R⊕ Kepler-386 c 1.58 R⊕

Metric	Earth	Kepler-126 c	Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)	1.00	1.58	11.21
Mass (M⊕)	1.00	1.28	317.83
Density (g/cm³)	5.51	1.70	1.33
Surface Gravity (g)	1.00	0.51	2.53
Insolation (S⊕)	1.00	112.13	0.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method	Value	Interpretation
Minimum mass (M sin i)	1.279 M⊕	Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 159046962

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2126918008858627712

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2126918008858627712

System

Kepler-126

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.580 R⊕ · percentile 48 / cohort 1176

Mass 1.279 M⊕ · percentile 0 / cohort 1176

Orbital period 21.87 d · percentile 87 / cohort 1164

Distance 237.40 pc · percentile 26 / cohort 1171

ESI 0.326 · percentile 44 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period

21.870 days

Semi-major axis

0.1620 AU

Eccentricity

0.190

Inclination

88.75 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 21.87 Earth days (6.0% of a terrestrial year) on a mildly elliptical path at a mean orbital distance of 0.1620 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.012 %

Duration

5.479 h

Impact parameter b

0.710

Rp / R★

0.013020

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,973.2916

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 115 ppm lasting ≈ 5.48 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.013020

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

13.644

Impact parameter (b)

0.710

RV semi-amplitude (K)

0.273 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,973.2916

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.68200

Eq. Temperature

790K

(517 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

112.13

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.326

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.

Transit timing variations

Gravitational interactions from neighbours have been detected.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Rowe et al. 2014

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2014-03

Observation locale

Space

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2014 at Kepler (12 shown).

Kepler-186 e · Super-Earth Kepler-395 c · Super-Earth Kepler-220 e · Super-Earth Kepler-249 d · Super-Earth Kepler-296 f · Super-Earth Kepler-367 c · Rocky Terrestrial Kepler-296 e · Super-Earth Kepler-155 c · Sub-Neptune Kepler-138 d · Super-Earth Kepler-333 c · Rocky Terrestrial Kepler-331 d · Super-Earth Kepler-267 d · Sub-Neptune

Host System: Kepler-126

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,239 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.39 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.358 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.108 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.16

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.247 dex

Stellar density

0.400 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-20.74 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance

237.40 parsec

Light-years 774.30 ly

V-band magnitude

10.51 mag

Voyager-speed travel 13,654,738 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 14 bands

Astrometric Data

Parallax

4.184 mas

Total Proper Motion

23.048 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

11.48 mas/yr

PM Declination

-19.99 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.237 · y = -0.676 · z = 0.697

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 289.34736° · Dec 44.20844°

Galactic ℓ, b

75.644° · 14.233°

Ecliptic λ, β

304.680° · 65.335°

HTM-20 index

141292535