Key parameters at a glance

A radius of 3.10 Earth radii
A mass of 37.50 Earth masses
Surface gravity around 3.90 g
An orbital period of 54.414 days
Semi-major axis 0.2901 AU
Equilibrium temperature 574 K (301 °C)
Distance from Earth 3,383.54 light-years
Earth Similarity Index 0.243
Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 59,668,766 years

3 siblings around Kepler-279

Kepler-279 d 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	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 this	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 d Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius

3.10 R⊕

Radius (Jupiter)

0.277 R♃

Mass

37.50 M⊕

Mass (Jupiter)

0.118 M♃

Density

0.30 g/cm³

Surface Gravity

3.90 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.243

HZ Position Inner

Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2013

Method Transit

Facility Kepler

Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#433of 1978

top 21.8%

This planet

3.10R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

TOI-1062 c 3.10 R⊕ Kepler-209 c 3.10 R⊕ Kepler-104 b 3.10 R⊕

Metric	Earth	Kepler-279 d	Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)	1.00	3.10	11.21
Mass (M⊕)	1.00	37.50	317.83
Density (g/cm³)	5.51	0.30	1.33
Surface Gravity (g)	1.00	3.90	2.53
Insolation (S⊕)	1.00	35.74	0.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method	Value	Interpretation
Best measured mass	37.500 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 3.100 R⊕ · percentile 78 / cohort 1978

Mass 37.500 M⊕ · percentile 97 / cohort 1978

Orbital period 54.41 d · percentile 87 / cohort 1946

Distance 1,037.40 pc · percentile 80 / cohort 1975

ESI 0.243 · percentile 15 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period

54.414 days

Semi-major axis

0.2901 AU

Eccentricity

0.000

Inclination

87.09 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 54.41 Earth days (14.9% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.2901 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.060 %

Duration

8.559 h

Impact parameter b

0.910

Rp / R★

0.022800

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,981.7047

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 598 ppm lasting ≈ 8.56 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.022800

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

24.990

Impact parameter (b)

0.910

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,981.7047

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.28000

Eq. Temperature

574K

(301 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

35.74

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.243

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

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

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

Xie 2014

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2014-02

Observation locale

Space

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2013 at Kepler (12 shown).

Kepler-69 c · Super-Earth Kepler-61 b · Sub-Neptune Kepler-62 e · Super-Earth KOI-351 f · Sub-Neptune Kepler-62 f · Super-Earth KOI-351 e · Sub-Neptune Kepler-1704 b · Gas Giant Kepler-37 d · Sub-Neptune Kepler-282 e · Sub-Neptune KOI-351 h · Gas Giant KOI-351 d · Sub-Neptune Kepler-114 c · Super-Earth

Host System: Kepler-279

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,689 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

0.22 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.070 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.100 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.420 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