Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2013

Kepler-62 d

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-62, located approximately 981.3 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.95 Earth radii
  • A mass of 14.00 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 3.68 g
  • An orbital period of 18.164 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1200 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 510 K (237 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 981.32 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.439
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 17,305,553 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Context from the literature

Kepler-62d is the third innermost and the largest exoplanet discovered orbiting the star Kepler-62, with a size roughly twice the diameter of Earth. It was found using the transit method, in which the dimming that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured. Its stellar flux is 15 ± 2 times Earth's. Due to its closer orbit to its star, it is a super-Venus or, if it has a volatile composition, a hot Neptune, with an estimated equilibrium temperature of 510 K, too hot to sustain life on its surface.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

4 siblings around Kepler-62

Kepler-62 d 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-62 b Super-Earth 1.31 9.00 5.715 750 2013
Kepler-62 c Rocky Terrestrial 0.54 4.00 12.442 578 2013
Kepler-62 d this Super-Earth 1.95 14.00 18.164 510 2013
Kepler-62 e Super-Earth 1.61 36.00 122.387 270 2013
Kepler-62 f Super-Earth 1.41 35.00 267.291 208 2013

Kepler-62 d Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.95 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.174 R♃
Mass
14.00 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.044 M♃
Density
g/cm³
Surface Gravity
3.68 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.439
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2013
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#67of 1176

top 5.6%

This planet

1.95R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-62 d Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.9511.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0014.00317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.003.682.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0017.210.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 14.000 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 164458488

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2107001283431633408

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2107001283431633408

System

Kepler-62

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.950 R⊕ · percentile 94 / cohort 1176
Mass 14.000 M⊕ · percentile 97 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 18.16 d · percentile 82 / cohort 1164
Distance 300.87 pc · percentile 31 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.439 · percentile 66 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
18.164 days
Semi-major axis
0.1200 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.70 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 18.16 Earth days (5.0% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1200 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.092 %

Duration

2.970 h

Impact parameter b

0.220

Rp / R★

0.027800

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,013.8117

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 920 ppm lasting ≈ 2.97 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.027800

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

40.400

Impact parameter (b)

0.220

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,013.8117

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.39900

Eq. Temperature

510K

(237 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

17.21

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.439

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.

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Borucki et al. 2013

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2013-05

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-62

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,925 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

7.00 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.640 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.690 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.37

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.680 dex

Stellar density

3.800 g/cm³

Rotational v·sin i

0.40 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
300.87 parsec
Light-years 981.32 ly
V-band magnitude
13.97 mag
Voyager-speed travel 17,305,553 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

8.715.015.03B13.97V13.72Gaia13.73Kepler13.13TESS14.42Sloan g13.65Sloan r13.43Sloan i13.30Sloan z12.26J11.74H11.66K11.61W111.66W211.68W38.65W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.295 mas

Total Proper Motion

40.053 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-25.15 mas/yr

PM Declination

-31.17 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.161 · y = -0.684 · z = 0.711

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 283.21256° · Dec 45.34970°

Galactic ℓ, b

75.038° · 18.695°

Ecliptic λ, β

294.979° · 67.646°

HTM-20 index

285252744

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