Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-659 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-659, located approximately 2,356.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.50 Earth radii
  • A mass of 6.80 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.09 g
  • An orbital period of 17.672 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1204 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 513 K (240 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 2,356.93 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.485
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 41,564,524 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-659 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.50 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.223 R♃
Mass
6.80 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.021 M♃
Density
2.39 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.09 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.485
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

#1168of 1978

top 59.0%

This planet

2.50R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-659 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.5011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.006.80317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.391.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.092.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0021.310.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 158489787

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2130866904868424320

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2130866904868424320

System

Kepler-659

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.500 R⊕ · percentile 40 / cohort 1978
Mass 6.800 M⊕ · percentile 37 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 17.67 d · percentile 58 / cohort 1946
Distance 722.64 pc · percentile 61 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.485 · percentile 69 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
17.672 days
Semi-major axis
0.1204 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
87.81 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 17.67 Earth days (4.8% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1204 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.092 %

Duration

3.255 h

Impact parameter b

0.668

Rp / R★

0.030615

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,019.3686

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 919 ppm lasting ≈ 3.26 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.030615

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

22.600

Impact parameter (b)

0.668

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,019.3686

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.16700

Eq. Temperature

513K

(240 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

21.31

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.485

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-659

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,870 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.24 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.740 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.790 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.02

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.600 dex

Stellar density

2.089 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
722.64 parsec
Light-years 2,356.93 ly
V-band magnitude
15.76 mag
Voyager-speed travel 41,564,524 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.416.516.54B15.76V15.57Gaia15.56Kepler14.92TESS16.38Sloan g15.50Sloan r15.20Sloan i15.04Sloan z13.96J13.47H13.35K13.37W113.43W212.65W39.42W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.355 mas

Total Proper Motion

4.737 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-4.50 mas/yr

PM Declination

-1.47 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.204 · y = -0.644 · z = 0.737

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 287.60818° · Dec 47.50969°

Galactic ℓ, b

78.296° · 16.647°

Ecliptic λ, β

304.490° · 68.850°

HTM-20 index

-1845945324

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