Artist impression of Kepler-442 b exoplanet
Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2015 Habitable Zone

Kepler-442 b

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-442, located approximately 1,193.6 light-years from Earth.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Helgo13

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.34 Earth radii
  • A mass of 2.36 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.31 g
  • An orbital period of 112.305 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.4090 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 241 K (-32 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,193.62 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.834
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 21,049,431 years

Context from the literature

Kepler-442b is a confirmed near-Earth-sized exoplanet, likely rocky, orbiting within the habitable zone of the K-type main-sequence star Kepler-442, about 1,196 light-years (367 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Lyra.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

Kepler-442 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.34 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.120 R♃
Mass
2.36 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.007 M♃
Density
5.39 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.31 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.834
HZ Position Habitable
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2015
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1010of 1176

top 85.8%

This planet

1.34R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-442 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.3411.21
Mass (M⊕)1.002.36317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.515.391.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.312.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.660.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 120499135

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2100258047339711488

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2100258047339711488

System

Kepler-442

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.340 R⊕ · percentile 13 / cohort 1176
Mass 2.360 M⊕ · percentile 13 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 112.31 d · percentile 99 / cohort 1164
Distance 365.97 pc · percentile 37 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.834 · percentile 92 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
112.305 days
Semi-major axis
0.4090 AU
Eccentricity
0.040
Inclination
89.94 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 112.31 Earth days (30.7% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.4090 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.050 %

Duration

5.620 h

Impact parameter b

0.220

Rp / R★

0.021100

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,849.5578

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 502 ppm lasting ≈ 5.62 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.021100

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

146.000

Impact parameter (b)

0.220

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,849.5578

Angular separation (arcsec)

1.12000

Eq. Temperature

241K

(-32 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

0.66

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.834

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Within the conservative habitable zone — surface water would be frozen.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Torres et al. 2015

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2015-02

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-442

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,402 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.90 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.598 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.609 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.37

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.673 dex

Stellar density

4.010 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
365.97 parsec
Light-years 1,193.62 ly
V-band magnitude
15.32 mag
Voyager-speed travel 21,049,431 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 17 bands

9.118.118.14U16.75B15.32V14.93Gaia14.98Kepler14.23TESS15.87Sloan g14.88Sloan r14.51Sloan i14.29Sloan z13.23J12.58H12.49K12.46W112.48W212.40W39.06W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.704 mas

Total Proper Motion

8.018 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

7.79 mas/yr

PM Declination

1.92 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.205 · y = -0.746 · z = 0.633

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 285.36660° · Dec 39.28007°

Galactic ℓ, b

69.750° · 14.984°

Ecliptic λ, β

295.346° · 61.374°

HTM-20 index

-498384969

Wikipedia → Image: Wikimedia Commons · Helgo13 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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