Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2014

Kepler-251 b

A super-earth orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) Kepler-251, located approximately 3,015.7 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.33 Earth radii
  • A mass of 2.33 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.32 g
  • An orbital period of 4.791 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0530 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 990 K (717 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 3,015.72 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.313
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 53,182,218 years

3 siblings around Kepler-251

Kepler-251 b shares its host star with 3 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
Kepler-251 b this Super-Earth 1.33 2.33 4.791 990 2014
Kepler-251 c Sub-Neptune 2.77 8.10 16.514 655 2014
Kepler-251 d Sub-Neptune 2.77 8.10 30.133 536 2014
Kepler-251 e Sub-Neptune 2.77 8.10 99.640 360 2014

Kepler-251 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.33 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.119 R♃
Mass
2.33 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.007 M♃
Density
5.44 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.32 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.313
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

#1022of 1176

top 86.8%

This planet

1.33R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-251 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.3311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.002.33317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.515.441.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.322.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00203.170.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 272489533

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2078832551450444032

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2078832551450444032

System

Kepler-251

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.330 R⊕ · percentile 11 / cohort 1176
Mass 2.330 M⊕ · percentile 11 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 4.79 d · percentile 39 / cohort 1164
Distance 924.63 pc · percentile 77 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.313 · percentile 40 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
4.791 days
Semi-major axis
0.0530 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.55 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 4.79 Earth days (1.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0530 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.025 %

Duration

2.705 h

Impact parameter b

0.250

Rp / R★

0.015386

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,969.3115

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 251 ppm lasting ≈ 2.71 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.015386

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

13.700

Impact parameter (b)

0.250

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,969.3115

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.05730

Eq. Temperature

990K

(717 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

203.17

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.313

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Rowe et al. 2014

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2014-03

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-251

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,526 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.00 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.890 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.891 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.06

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.486 dex

Stellar density

1.610 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
924.63 parsec
Light-years 3,015.72 ly
V-band magnitude
15.54 mag
Voyager-speed travel 53,182,218 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 12 bands

13.616.316.29B15.54V15.22Gaia15.22Kepler14.68TESS15.78Sloan g15.19Sloan r14.98Sloan i14.89Sloan z13.96J13.60H13.63K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.054 mas

Total Proper Motion

13.968 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-3.18 mas/yr

PM Declination

-13.60 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.321 · y = -0.642 · z = 0.696

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 296.56622° · Dec 44.10581°

Galactic ℓ, b

77.907° · 9.551°

Ecliptic λ, β

315.786° · 63.383°

HTM-20 index

-1274721983

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