Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-531 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-531, located approximately 824.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.78 Earth radii
  • A mass of 8.15 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.05 g
  • An orbital period of 29.885 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1745 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 453 K (180 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 824.40 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.519
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 14,538,265 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-531 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.78 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.248 R♃
Mass
8.15 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.026 M♃
Density
2.08 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.05 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.519
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2016
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#768of 1978

top 38.8%

This planet

2.78R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-531 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.7811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.008.15317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.081.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.052.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0010.010.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 243272677

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2131181055955983232

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2131181055955983232

System

Kepler-531

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.780 R⊕ · percentile 61 / cohort 1978
Mass 8.150 M⊕ · percentile 56 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 29.88 d · percentile 73 / cohort 1946
Distance 252.76 pc · percentile 32 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.519 · percentile 73 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
29.885 days
Semi-major axis
0.1745 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.06 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 29.88 Earth days (8.2% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1745 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.128 %

Duration

4.561 h

Impact parameter b

0.710

Rp / R★

0.033897

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,006.1944

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,276 ppm lasting ≈ 4.56 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.033897

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

37.000

Impact parameter (b)

0.710

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,006.1944

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.69000

Eq. Temperature

453K

(180 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

10.01

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.519

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.

Transit timing variations

Gravitational interactions from neighbours have been detected.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Morton et al. 2016

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2016-05

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-531

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,893 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

7.76 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.750 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.780 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.03

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.580 dex

Stellar density

1.960 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
252.76 parsec
Light-years 824.40 ly
V-band magnitude
13.57 mag
Voyager-speed travel 14,538,265 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.015.015.01B13.57V13.29Gaia13.34Kepler12.67TESS14.12Sloan g13.25Sloan r13.01Sloan i12.85Sloan z11.77J11.25H11.18K11.13W111.20W211.15W39.00W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.927 mas

Total Proper Motion

32.590 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-29.95 mas/yr

PM Declination

-12.84 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.188 · y = -0.633 · z = 0.751

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 286.52466° · Dec 48.68355°

Galactic ℓ, b

79.158° · 17.753°

Ecliptic λ, β

303.660° · 70.198°

HTM-20 index

-712486960

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