Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2014

Kepler-55 e

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-55, located approximately 1,887.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.55 Earth radii
  • A mass of 3.02 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.26 g
  • An orbital period of 4.618 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0480 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 728 K (455 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,887.78 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.412
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 33,290,961 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

4 siblings around Kepler-55

Kepler-55 e 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-55 d Super-Earth 1.59 3.15 2.211 931 2014
Kepler-55 e this Super-Earth 1.55 3.02 4.618 728 2014
Kepler-55 f Super-Earth 1.59 3.15 10.199 559 2014
Kepler-55 b Sub-Neptune 2.43 43.00 27.948 400 2012
Kepler-55 c Sub-Neptune 2.21 69.80 42.152 349 2012

Kepler-55 e Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.55 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.138 R♃
Mass
3.02 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.010 M♃
Density
4.46 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.26 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.412
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2014
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#652of 1176

top 55.4%

This planet

1.55R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-55 e Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.5511.21
Mass (M⊕)1.003.02317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.514.461.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.262.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0073.160.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 164884002

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2105930840143687680

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2105930840143687680

System

Kepler-55

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.550 R⊕ · percentile 43 / cohort 1176
Mass 3.020 M⊕ · percentile 39 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 4.62 d · percentile 37 / cohort 1164
Distance 578.80 pc · percentile 52 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.412 · percentile 62 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
4.618 days
Semi-major axis
0.0480 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
86.99 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 4.62 Earth days (1.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0480 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.058 %

Duration

2.132 h

Impact parameter b

0.720

Rp / R★

0.023024

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,968.0425

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 576 ppm lasting ≈ 2.13 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.023024

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

12.350

Impact parameter (b)

0.720

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,968.0425

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.08290

Eq. Temperature

728K

(455 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

73.16

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.412

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

Rowe et al. 2014

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2014-03

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-55

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,503 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.34 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.619 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.631 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.01

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.684 dex

Stellar density

0.025 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
578.80 parsec
Light-years 1,887.78 ly
V-band magnitude
15.75 mag
Voyager-speed travel 33,290,961 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.217.117.09B15.75V15.78Gaia15.79Kepler15.05TESS16.82Sloan g15.72Sloan r15.35Sloan i15.13Sloan z13.97J13.36H13.29K13.05W113.08W212.88W39.18W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.699 mas

Total Proper Motion

1.815 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-1.78 mas/yr

PM Declination

-0.36 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.188 · y = -0.694 · z = 0.695

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 285.16833° · Dec 44.02649°

Galactic ℓ, b

74.258° · 16.925°

Ecliptic λ, β

297.571° · 66.020°

HTM-20 index

84294904

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