Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-687 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-687, located approximately 2,066.7 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 3.52 Earth radii
  • A mass of 12.20 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.98 g
  • An orbital period of 20.506 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1326 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 518 K (245 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 2,066.72 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.419
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 36,446,607 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-687 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
3.52 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.314 R♃
Mass
12.20 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.038 M♃
Density
1.54 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.98 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.419
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

#169of 1978

top 8.5%

This planet

3.52R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-687 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.003.5211.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0012.20317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.541.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.982.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0015.650.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 121988890

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2101000836165429504

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2101000836165429504

System

Kepler-687

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 3.520 R⊕ · percentile 91 / cohort 1978
Mass 12.200 M⊕ · percentile 84 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 20.51 d · percentile 63 / cohort 1946
Distance 633.66 pc · percentile 55 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.419 · percentile 56 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
20.506 days
Semi-major axis
0.1326 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.62 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 20.51 Earth days (5.6% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1326 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.211 %

Duration

4.060 h

Impact parameter b

0.790

Rp / R★

0.043572

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,014.4347

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 2,106 ppm lasting ≈ 4.06 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.043572

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

39.050

Impact parameter (b)

0.790

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,014.4347

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.20900

Eq. Temperature

518K

(245 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

15.65

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.419

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-687

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,841 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

5.50 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.730 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.770 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.04

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.600 dex

Stellar density

2.650 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
633.66 parsec
Light-years 2,066.72 ly
V-band magnitude
15.70 mag
Voyager-speed travel 36,446,607 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.216.916.87B15.70V15.39Gaia15.40Kepler14.75TESS16.24Sloan g15.34Sloan r15.04Sloan i14.88Sloan z13.84J13.25H13.22K13.19W113.29W212.29W39.22W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.550 mas

Total Proper Motion

5.357 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

2.80 mas/yr

PM Declination

4.57 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.256 · y = -0.732 · z = 0.631

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 289.31546° · Dec 39.15329°

Galactic ℓ, b

70.917° · 12.140°

Ecliptic λ, β

301.393° · 60.504°

HTM-20 index

-168352698

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