Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-1461 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-1461, located approximately 2,214.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.03 Earth radii
  • A mass of 4.78 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.16 g
  • An orbital period of 29.349 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1715 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 451 K (178 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 2,214.94 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.586
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 39,060,552 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-1461 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.03 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.181 R♃
Mass
4.78 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.015 M♃
Density
3.14 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.16 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.586
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

#1915of 1978

top 96.8%

This planet

2.03R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-1461 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.0311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.004.78317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.513.141.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.162.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.008.880.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 279915288

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2105752581821148544

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2105752581821148544

System

Kepler-1461

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.030 R⊕ · percentile 3 / cohort 1978
Mass 4.780 M⊕ · percentile 5 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 29.35 d · percentile 73 / cohort 1946
Distance 679.11 pc · percentile 58 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.586 · percentile 81 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
29.349 days
Semi-major axis
0.1715 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
88.82 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 29.35 Earth days (8.0% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1715 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.066 %

Duration

4.207 h

Impact parameter b

0.434

Rp / R★

0.024865

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,981.4646

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 659 ppm lasting ≈ 4.21 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.024865

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

36.400

Impact parameter (b)

0.434

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,981.4646

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.25300

Eq. Temperature

451K

(178 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

8.88

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.586

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-1461

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,919 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.24 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.740 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.790 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.04

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.600 dex

Stellar density

2.659 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
679.11 parsec
Light-years 2,214.94 ly
V-band magnitude
15.83 mag
Voyager-speed travel 39,060,552 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.216.916.94B15.83V15.69Gaia15.69Kepler15.07TESS16.47Sloan g15.64Sloan r15.35Sloan i15.22Sloan z14.14J13.71H13.47K13.53W113.56W212.91W39.22W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.444 mas

Total Proper Motion

8.358 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

7.84 mas/yr

PM Declination

-2.91 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.199 · y = -0.701 · z = 0.685

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 285.83051° · Dec 43.19838°

Galactic ℓ, b

73.644° · 16.171°

Ecliptic λ, β

298.177° · 65.096°

HTM-20 index

1177685827

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