Key parameters at a glance

A radius of 3.62 Earth radii
A mass of 4,180.93 Earth masses
Surface gravity around 319.05 g
An orbital period of 12.310 days
Semi-major axis 0.1120 AU
Equilibrium temperature 1,104 K (831 °C)
Distance from Earth 3,383.54 light-years
Earth Similarity Index 0.075
Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 59,668,766 years

3 siblings around Kepler-279

Kepler-279 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-279 b this	Sub-Neptune	3.62	4,180.93	12.310	1,104	2014
Kepler-279 c	Neptune-like	4.30	49.40	35.736	774	2013
Kepler-279 d	Sub-Neptune	3.10	37.50	54.414	574	2013
Kepler-279 e	Neptune-like	4.13	56.00	98.353	552	2025

Kepler-279 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius

3.62 R⊕

Radius (Jupiter)

0.323 R♃

Mass

4,180.93 M⊕

Mass (Jupiter)

13.155 M♃

Density

165.00 g/cm³

Surface Gravity

319.05 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.075

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

#128of 1978

top 6.4%

This planet

3.62R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

HD 51608 b 3.62 R⊕ TOI-1758 b 3.62 R⊕ Kepler-210 c 3.62 R⊕

Metric	Earth	Kepler-279 b	Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)	1.00	3.62	11.21
Mass (M⊕)	1.00	4,180.93	317.83
Density (g/cm³)	5.51	165.00	1.33
Surface Gravity (g)	1.00	319.05	2.53
Insolation (S⊕)	1.00	249.02	0.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method	Value	Interpretation
Best measured mass	4,180.930 M⊕	Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 158428960

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2102456726998624640

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2102456726998624640

System

Kepler-279

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 3.620 R⊕ · percentile 93 / cohort 1978

Mass 4,180.930 M⊕ · percentile 100 / cohort 1978

Orbital period 12.31 d · percentile 42 / cohort 1946

Distance 1,037.40 pc · percentile 80 / cohort 1975

ESI 0.075 · percentile 0 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period

12.310 days

Semi-major axis

0.1120 AU

Eccentricity

0.000

Inclination

83.92 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 12.31 Earth days (3.4% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1120 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.038 %

Duration

5.868 h

Impact parameter b

0.690

Rp / R★

0.019190

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,970.6864

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 379 ppm lasting ≈ 5.87 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.019190

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

9.279

Impact parameter (b)

0.690

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,970.6864

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.10800

Eq. Temperature

1,104K

(831 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

249.02

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.075

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the dayside is scorched.

Detection Signatures

Transit photometry

A transit dip has been observed from at least one telescope.

Transit timing variations

Gravitational interactions from neighbours have been detected.

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-279

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,363 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

0.22 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.746 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.200 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.051 dex

Stellar density

0.044 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[M/H]

Distance

1,037.40 parsec

Light-years 3,383.54 ly

V-band magnitude

13.65 mag

Voyager-speed travel 59,668,766 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

Astrometric Data

Parallax

0.935 mas

Total Proper Motion

3.988 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

3.99 mas/yr

PM Declination

0.14 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.221 · y = -0.707 · z = 0.672

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 287.39130° · Dec 42.19482°

Galactic ℓ, b

73.147° · 14.724°

Ecliptic λ, β

300.130° · 63.826°

HTM-20 index

-2058739019