Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2012

Kepler-59 c

A super-earth orbiting the f-type yellow-white Kepler-59, located approximately 3,793.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.98 Earth radii
  • A mass of 3.81 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.97 g
  • An orbital period of 17.980 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1311 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 752 K (479 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 3,793.91 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.325
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 66,905,631 years

1 sibling around Kepler-59

Kepler-59 c shares its host star with 1 other confirmed planet. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
Kepler-59 b Rocky Terrestrial 1.10 4.10 11.868 864 2012
Kepler-59 c this Super-Earth 1.98 3.81 17.980 752 2012

Kepler-59 c Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.98 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.177 R♃
Mass
3.81 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.012 M♃
Density
1.62 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.97 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.325
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

#25of 1176

top 2.0%

This planet

1.98R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-59 c Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.9811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.003.81317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.621.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.972.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00107.740.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 3.810 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 158393923

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2130625287187139072

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2130625287187139072

System

Kepler-59

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.980 R⊕ · percentile 97 / cohort 1176
Mass 3.810 M⊕ · percentile 68 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 17.98 d · percentile 82 / cohort 1164
Distance 1,163.22 pc · percentile 88 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.325 · percentile 44 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
17.980 days
Semi-major axis
0.1311 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
88.06 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 17.98 Earth days (4.9% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1311 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.021 %

Duration

4.125 h

Impact parameter b

0.814

Rp / R★

0.019230

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,980.6982

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 214 ppm lasting ≈ 4.12 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.019230

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

11.300

Impact parameter (b)

0.814

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,980.6982

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.11300

Eq. Temperature

752K

(479 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

107.74

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.325

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water.

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-59

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,074 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

0.26 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.940 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.040 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.20

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.510 dex

Stellar density

0.390 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
1,163.22 parsec
Light-years 3,793.91 ly
V-band magnitude
14.47 mag
Voyager-speed travel 66,905,631 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.415.015.00B14.47V14.28Gaia14.31Kepler13.86TESS14.67Sloan g14.26Sloan r14.15Sloan i14.12Sloan z13.25J12.97H12.93K12.89W112.91W212.44W39.42W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

0.831 mas

Total Proper Motion

10.501 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-0.39 mas/yr

PM Declination

10.49 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.201 · y = -0.656 · z = 0.727

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 287.03949° · Dec 46.64017°

Galactic ℓ, b

77.303° · 16.678°

Ecliptic λ, β

302.723° · 68.152°

HTM-20 index

-1674500869

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