Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-551 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-551, located approximately 1,014.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.73 Earth radii
  • A mass of 7.90 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.06 g
  • An orbital period of 12.376 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0893 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 483 K (210 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,014.92 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.494
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 17,898,041 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-551 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.73 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.244 R♃
Mass
7.90 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.025 M♃
Density
2.13 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.06 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.494
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

#823of 1978

top 41.6%

This planet

2.73R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-551 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.7311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.007.90317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.131.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.062.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0014.390.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 350812580

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2131523553827356544

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2131523553827356544

System

Kepler-551

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.730 R⊕ · percentile 58 / cohort 1978
Mass 7.900 M⊕ · percentile 53 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 12.38 d · percentile 42 / cohort 1946
Distance 311.18 pc · percentile 35 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.494 · percentile 70 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
12.376 days
Semi-major axis
0.0893 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.17 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 12.38 Earth days (3.4% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0893 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.177 %

Duration

2.753 h

Impact parameter b

0.638

Rp / R★

0.040251

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,012.4047

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,771 ppm lasting ≈ 2.75 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.040251

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

28.200

Impact parameter (b)

0.638

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,012.4047

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.28700

Eq. Temperature

483K

(210 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

14.39

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.494

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.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Morton et al. 2016

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2016-05

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-551

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,286 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.80 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.630 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.650 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.09

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.660 dex

Stellar density

4.188 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
311.18 parsec
Light-years 1,014.92 ly
V-band magnitude
15.28 mag
Voyager-speed travel 17,898,041 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.216.816.80B15.28V14.86Gaia14.90Kepler14.08TESS16.07Sloan g14.85Sloan r14.39Sloan i14.14Sloan z12.99J12.37H12.19K12.11W112.17W211.88W39.15W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.185 mas

Total Proper Motion

17.796 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

5.48 mas/yr

PM Declination

16.93 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.178 · y = -0.644 · z = 0.744

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 285.48505° · Dec 48.05438°

Galactic ℓ, b

78.281° · 18.174°

Ecliptic λ, β

301.155° · 69.824°

HTM-20 index

-62256894

Similar Worlds

Explore Related Categories