Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2012

Kepler-54 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the m-type red dwarf Kepler-54, located approximately 886.2 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.10 Earth radii
  • A mass of 0.98 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.22 g
  • An orbital period of 8.011 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0619 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 453 K (180 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 886.17 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.436
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 15,627,591 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

2 siblings around Kepler-54

Kepler-54 b shares its host star with 2 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
Kepler-54 b this Sub-Neptune 2.10 0.98 8.011 453 2012
Kepler-54 c Rocky Terrestrial 1.23 0.70 12.072 395 2012
Kepler-54 d Super-Earth 1.53 12.09 20.996 328 2014

Kepler-54 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.10 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.187 R♃
Mass
0.98 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.003 M♃
Density
0.76 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.22 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.436
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

#1818of 1978

top 91.9%

This planet

2.10R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-54 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.1011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.000.98317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.761.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.222.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0012.360.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 0.980 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 271262203

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2077974687557384704

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2077974687557384704

System

Kepler-54

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.100 R⊕ · percentile 7 / cohort 1978
Mass 0.980 M⊕ · percentile 0 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 8.01 d · percentile 26 / cohort 1946
Distance 271.70 pc · percentile 33 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.436 · percentile 60 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
8.011 days
Semi-major axis
0.0619 AU
Eccentricity
0.022
Inclination
89.59 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 8.01 Earth days (2.2% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0619 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.133 %

Duration

3.413 h

Impact parameter b

0.946

Rp / R★

0.038420

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,003.2057

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,334 ppm lasting ≈ 3.41 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.038420

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

7.660

Impact parameter (b)

0.946

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,003.2057

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.22800

Eq. Temperature

453K

(180 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

12.36

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.436

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

Steffen et al. 2013

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2013-01

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-54

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

3,705 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.83 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.500 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.510 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.27

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.750 dex

Stellar density

0.180 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
271.70 parsec
Light-years 886.17 ly
V-band magnitude
16.28 mag
Voyager-speed travel 15,627,591 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.418.018.00B16.28V15.81Gaia15.85Kepler14.80TESS17.42Sloan g15.96Sloan r15.18Sloan i14.70Sloan z13.51J12.90H12.65K12.57W112.52W212.67W39.45W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.652 mas

Total Proper Motion

18.499 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

0.03 mas/yr

PM Declination

-18.50 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.306 · y = -0.663 · z = 0.683

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 294.77392° · Dec 43.05620°

Galactic ℓ, b

76.345° · 10.198°

Ecliptic λ, β

312.243° · 62.908°

HTM-20 index

-1445206968

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