Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2012

Kepler-48 b

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-48, located approximately 1,000.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.88 Earth radii
  • A mass of 3.94 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.11 g
  • An orbital period of 4.778 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0539 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 932 K (659 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,000.44 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.297
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 17,642,836 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

4 siblings around Kepler-48

Kepler-48 b shares its host star with 4 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
Kepler-48 b this Super-Earth 1.88 3.94 4.778 932 2012
Kepler-48 c Sub-Neptune 2.71 14.61 9.674 736 2012
Kepler-48 d Sub-Neptune 2.04 7.93 42.896 448 2014
Kepler-48 e Gas Giant 13.40 657.00 982.000 2014
Kepler-48 f Gas Giant 13.80 298.58 5,219.682 2023

Kepler-48 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.88 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.168 R♃
Mass
3.94 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.012 M♃
Density
3.23 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.11 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.297
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2012
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#153of 1176

top 12.9%

This planet

1.88R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-48 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.8811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.003.94317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.513.231.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.112.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00173.120.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 3.940 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 6.609 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 171882123

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2075112109039378688

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2075112109039378688

System

Kepler-48

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.880 R⊕ · percentile 86 / cohort 1176
Mass 3.940 M⊕ · percentile 72 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 4.78 d · percentile 39 / cohort 1164
Distance 306.74 pc · percentile 32 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.297 · percentile 36 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
4.778 days
Semi-major axis
0.0539 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.91 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 4.78 Earth days (1.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0539 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.047 %

Duration

2.736 h

Impact parameter b

0.170

Rp / R★

0.019318

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,957.0611

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 473 ppm lasting ≈ 2.74 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.019318

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

13.609

Impact parameter (b)

0.170

RV semi-amplitude (K)

1.620 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,957.0611

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.17600

Eq. Temperature

932K

(659 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

173.12

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.297

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Detection Signatures

Transit photometry

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

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Transit timing variations

Gravitational interactions from neighbours have been detected.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Steffen et al. 2013

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2013-01

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-48

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,194 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.14 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.890 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.880 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.17

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.487 dex

Stellar density

1.980 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-10.53 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

0.50 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
306.74 parsec
Light-years 1,000.44 ly
V-band magnitude
13.17 mag
Voyager-speed travel 17,642,836 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

8.714.314.25B13.17V13.08Gaia13.04Kepler12.51TESS13.69Sloan g13.01Sloan r12.76Sloan i12.69Sloan z11.70J11.29H11.22K11.11W111.18W211.14W38.75W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.231 mas

Total Proper Motion

24.275 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

13.23 mas/yr

PM Declination

-20.36 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.368 · y = -0.660 · z = 0.655

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 299.13931° · Dec 40.94894°

Galactic ℓ, b

76.090° · 6.339°

Ecliptic λ, β

316.862° · 59.737°

HTM-20 index

-213247919

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