Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2014

Kepler-231 b

A super-earth orbiting the m-type red dwarf Kepler-231, located approximately 1,032.7 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.73 Earth radii
  • A mass of 35.40 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 11.83 g
  • An orbital period of 10.065 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0740 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 488 K (215 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,032.67 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.455
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 18,211,110 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

1 sibling around Kepler-231

Kepler-231 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-231 b this Super-Earth 1.73 35.40 10.065 488 2014
Kepler-231 c Super-Earth 1.93 24.10 19.272 393 2014

Kepler-231 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.73 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.154 R♃
Mass
35.40 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.111 M♃
Density
13.80 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
11.83 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.455
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

#356of 1176

top 30.2%

This planet

1.73R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-231 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.7311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0035.40317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.5113.801.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.0011.832.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0014.880.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 35.400 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 27006192

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2135223204298512128

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2135223204298512128

System

Kepler-231

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.730 R⊕ · percentile 68 / cohort 1176
Mass 35.400 M⊕ · percentile 98 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 10.07 d · percentile 65 / cohort 1164
Distance 316.62 pc · percentile 33 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.455 · percentile 68 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
10.065 days
Semi-major axis
0.0740 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.22 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 10.07 Earth days (2.8% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0740 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.105 %

Duration

1.440 h

Impact parameter b

0.820

Rp / R★

0.030809

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,969.2819

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,053 ppm lasting ≈ 1.44 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.030809

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

29.400

Impact parameter (b)

0.820

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,969.2819

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.23400

Eq. Temperature

488K

(215 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

14.88

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.455

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-231

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

3,767 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.15 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.490 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.580 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.10

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.779 dex

Stellar density

7.162 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
316.62 parsec
Light-years 1,032.67 ly
V-band magnitude
15.81 mag
Voyager-speed travel 18,211,110 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.117.017.02B15.81V15.39Gaia15.39Kepler14.57TESS16.62Sloan g15.38Sloan r14.86Sloan i14.59Sloan z13.41J12.78H12.59K12.54W112.55W212.36W39.10W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.130 mas

Total Proper Motion

13.589 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

5.04 mas/yr

PM Declination

-12.62 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.258 · y = -0.581 · z = 0.772

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 293.97339° · Dec 50.53185°

Galactic ℓ, b

82.916° · 14.061°

Ecliptic λ, β

318.832° · 69.936°

HTM-20 index

479015227

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