Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2014

Kepler-421 b

A neptune-like orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) Kepler-421, located approximately 1,136.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 4.16 Earth radii
  • A mass of 16.10 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.93 g
  • An orbital period of 704.198 days
  • Semi-major axis 1.2190 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 185 K (-88 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,136.84 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.442
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 20,048,222 years

Context from the literature

Kepler-421b is an exoplanet that, as of July 2014, has the longest known year of any transiting planet, although not as long as the planets that have been directly imaged, or many of the planets found by the radial-velocity method, or as long as some transiting planet candidates which are listed as planets in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. It is the first transiting-planet found near the snow-line.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

Kepler-421 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
4.16 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.371 R♃
Mass
16.10 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.051 M♃
Density
1.23 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.93 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Neptune-like

ESI Score 0.442
HZ Position Outer
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2014
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#529of 574

top 92.0%

This planet

4.16R⊕

Neptune-like median

6.39R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-421 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.004.1611.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0016.10317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.231.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.932.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.200.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 164522394

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2106891671567353728

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2106891671567353728

System

Kepler-421

Percentile among Neptune-like cohort

Radius 4.160 R⊕ · percentile 8 / cohort 574
Mass 16.100 M⊕ · percentile 13 / cohort 574
Orbital period 704.20 d · percentile 97 / cohort 524
Distance 348.56 pc · percentile 51 / cohort 572
ESI 0.442 · percentile 80 / cohort 574

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
704.198 days
Semi-major axis
1.2190 AU
Eccentricity
0.041
Inclination
89.97 °

Year Length

A year here lasts about 1.93 Earth years on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 1.2190 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.232 %

Duration

15.790 h

Impact parameter b

0.210

Rp / R★

0.050080

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,325.7674

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 2,319 ppm lasting ≈ 15.79 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.050080

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

346.000

Impact parameter (b)

0.210

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,325.7674

Long. of periastron (ω)

160.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

3.50000

Eq. Temperature

185K

(-88 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

0.20

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.442

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Beyond the outer HZ boundary (too cold) — surface water would be frozen.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Kipping et al. 2014

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2014-07

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-421

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,308 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.00 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.757 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.794 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.25

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.610 dex

Stellar density

1.580 g/cm³

Rotational v·sin i

0.00 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
348.56 parsec
Light-years 1,136.84 ly
V-band magnitude
13.61 mag
Voyager-speed travel 20,048,222 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.414.314.29B13.61V13.35Gaia13.35Kepler12.82TESS13.93Sloan g13.31Sloan r13.11Sloan i13.01Sloan z12.01J11.62H11.54K11.47W111.49W211.50W39.35W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.840 mas

Total Proper Motion

20.788 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-4.01 mas/yr

PM Declination

-20.40 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.162 · y = -0.687 · z = 0.708

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 283.25681° · Dec 45.08768°

Galactic ℓ, b

74.789° · 18.576°

Ecliptic λ, β

294.895° · 67.384°

HTM-20 index

384537925

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