Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-1266 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-1266, located approximately 2,770.1 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.58 Earth radii
  • A mass of 7.18 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.08 g
  • An orbital period of 28.475 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1643 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 489 K (216 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 2,770.08 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.500
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 48,850,394 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

1 sibling around Kepler-1266

Kepler-1266 b 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-1266 c Super-Earth 1.68 3.46 4.866 881 2021
Kepler-1266 b this Sub-Neptune 2.58 7.18 28.475 489 2016

Kepler-1266 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.58 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.230 R♃
Mass
7.18 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.023 M♃
Density
2.30 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.08 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.500
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2016
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1057of 1978

top 53.4%

This planet

2.58R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-1266 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.5811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.007.18317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.301.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.082.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0010.310.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 158167159

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2105528350169042560

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2105528350169042560

System

Kepler-1266

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.580 R⊕ · percentile 46 / cohort 1978
Mass 7.180 M⊕ · percentile 43 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 28.47 d · percentile 72 / cohort 1946
Distance 849.31 pc · percentile 69 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.500 · percentile 70 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
28.475 days
Semi-major axis
0.1643 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
88.28 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 28.47 Earth days (7.8% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1643 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.076 %

Duration

4.809 h

Impact parameter b

0.870

Rp / R★

0.031407

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,987.5819

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 764 ppm lasting ≈ 4.81 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.031407

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

37.800

Impact parameter (b)

0.870

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,987.5819

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.19300

Eq. Temperature

489K

(216 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

10.31

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.500

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

Morton et al. 2016

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2016-05

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-1266

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,044 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

5.13 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.760 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.800 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.07

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.590 dex

Stellar density

2.070 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
849.31 parsec
Light-years 2,770.08 ly
V-band magnitude
16.02 mag
Voyager-speed travel 48,850,394 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 12 bands

13.817.117.12B16.02V15.84Gaia15.86Kepler15.25TESS16.53Sloan g15.80Sloan r15.57Sloan i15.48Sloan z14.39J13.92H13.82K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.149 mas

Total Proper Motion

19.670 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

5.14 mas/yr

PM Declination

-18.99 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.201 · y = -0.707 · z = 0.679

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 285.86933° · Dec 42.72800°

Galactic ℓ, b

73.202° · 15.966°

Ecliptic λ, β

297.958° · 64.634°

HTM-20 index

1284420662

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