Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2009

Kepler-6 b

A gas giant orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) Kepler-6, located approximately 1,914.7 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 14.62 Earth radii
  • A mass of 212.31 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.99 g
  • An orbital period of 3.235 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0485 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,460 K (1187 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,914.66 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.080
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 33,765,079 years

Kepler-6 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
14.62 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.304 R♃
Mass
212.31 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.668 M♃
Density
0.40 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.99 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.080
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2009
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#266of 1771

top 15.0%

This planet

14.62R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-6 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0014.6211.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00212.31317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.401.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.992.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00792.220.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 212.310 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 27916356

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2086636884980514304

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2086636884980514304

System

Kepler-6

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 14.617 R⊕ · percentile 85 / cohort 1771
Mass 212.310 M⊕ · percentile 22 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 3.23 d · percentile 19 / cohort 1533
Distance 587.04 pc · percentile 78 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.080 · percentile 18 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.235 days
Semi-major axis
0.0485 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
88.93 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.23 Earth days (0.9% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0485 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.081 %

Duration

3.594 h

Impact parameter b

0.141

Rp / R★

0.094240

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,954.4865

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 10,814 ppm lasting ≈ 3.59 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.094240

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

7.503

Impact parameter (b)

0.141

RV semi-amplitude (K)

80.900 m/s

Occultation depth

0.001 ppm

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,954.4865

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.08270

Eq. Temperature

1,460K

(1187 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

792.22

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.080

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the dayside is scorched.

Detection Signatures

Transit photometry

A transit dip has been observed from at least one telescope.

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Orbital-brightness modulation

Host star brightness varies with the planet's orbit.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Dunham et al. 2010

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2010-04

Observation locale

Space

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2009 at Kepler (3 shown).

Host System: Kepler-6

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,647 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.80 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.391 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.209 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.34

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.236 dex

Stellar density

0.776 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-49.14 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

3.00 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
587.04 parsec
Light-years 1,914.66 ly
V-band magnitude
13.29 mag
Voyager-speed travel 33,765,079 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 15 bands

9.014.114.05B13.29V13.17Gaia13.30Kepler12.69TESS13.79Sloan g13.25Sloan r13.09Sloan i12.00J11.71H11.63K11.59W111.64W211.49W38.97W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.675 mas

Total Proper Motion

8.484 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

0.96 mas/yr

PM Declination

8.43 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.301 · y = -0.594 · z = 0.746

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 296.83725° · Dec 48.23997°

Galactic ℓ, b

81.693° · 11.359°

Ecliptic λ, β

320.421° · 67.040°

HTM-20 index

1967146688

Observation Record

Photometric series

1

RV measurements

1

Emission spectra

5

Archive notes

1

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