Key parameters at a glance

A radius of 2.41 Earth radii
A mass of 6.39 Earth masses
Surface gravity around 1.10 g
An orbital period of 46.828 days
Semi-major axis 0.2200 AU
Equilibrium temperature 276 K (3 °C)
Distance from Earth 1,093.62 light-years
Earth Similarity Index 0.756
Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 19,286,056 years
Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Context from the literature

Kepler-26e is an exoplanet orbiting the star Kepler-26, located in the constellation Lyra. It was discovered by the Kepler telescope in February 2014. It orbits its parent star at only 0.220 astronomical units and completes an orbit once every 46.8 days. It is located within the star's habitable zone. The Habitable Worlds Catalog issued by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory classes the planet as a warm superterran near the inner edge of the optimistic habitable zone, with an equilibrium temperature of 262 K. The planet is likely tidally locked due to its proximity to the star.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

3 siblings around Kepler-26

Kepler-26 e 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-26 d	Rocky Terrestrial	1.07	1.24	3.544	652	2014
Kepler-26 b	Sub-Neptune	2.78	5.12	12.280	431	2011
Kepler-26 c	Sub-Neptune	2.72	6.20	17.256	385	2011
Kepler-26 e this	Sub-Neptune	2.41	6.39	46.828	276	2014

Kepler-26 e Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius

2.41 R⊕

Radius (Jupiter)

0.215 R♃

Mass

6.39 M⊕

Mass (Jupiter)

0.020 M♃

Density

2.51 g/cm³

Surface Gravity

1.10 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.756

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

#1312of 1978

top 66.3%

This planet

2.41R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Kepler-143 b 2.41 R⊕ Kepler-343 b 2.41 R⊕ GJ 536 b 2.41 R⊕

Metric	Earth	Kepler-26 e	Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)	1.00	2.41	11.21
Mass (M⊕)	1.00	6.39	317.83
Density (g/cm³)	5.51	2.51	1.33
Surface Gravity (g)	1.00	1.10	2.53
Insolation (S⊕)	1.00	1.75	0.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 164833065

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2107317358665730688

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2107317358665730688

System

Kepler-26

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.410 R⊕ · percentile 33 / cohort 1978

Mass 6.390 M⊕ · percentile 31 / cohort 1978

Orbital period 46.83 d · percentile 84 / cohort 1946

Distance 335.31 pc · percentile 38 / cohort 1975

ESI 0.756 · percentile 97 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period

46.828 days

Semi-major axis

0.2200 AU

Eccentricity

0.000

Inclination

89.87 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 46.83 Earth days (12.8% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.2200 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.154 %

Duration

2.084 h

Impact parameter b

0.770

Rp / R★

0.036335

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,969.7432

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,538 ppm lasting ≈ 2.08 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.036335

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

75.000

Impact parameter (b)

0.770

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,969.7432

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.65600

Eq. Temperature

276K

(3 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

1.75

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.756

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — liquid water is physically possible with adequate atmospheric pressure. 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

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-26

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

4,486 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.95 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.571 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.593 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.21

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.733 dex

Stellar density

5.983 g/cm³

Rotational v·sin i

1.90 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[M/H]

Distance

335.31 parsec

Light-years 1,093.62 ly

V-band magnitude

15.85 mag

Voyager-speed travel 19,286,056 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.954 mas

Total Proper Motion

16.909 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

9.54 mas/yr

PM Declination

-13.96 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.177 · y = -0.664 · z = 0.726

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 284.94106° · Dec 46.56645°

Galactic ℓ, b

76.680° · 17.993°

Ecliptic λ, β

298.934° · 68.510°

HTM-20 index

-1382944939

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