Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2009

Kepler-7 b

A gas giant orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) Kepler-7, located approximately 3,009.0 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 18.18 Earth radii
  • A mass of 140.16 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.42 g
  • An orbital period of 4.885 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0607 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,630 K (1357 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 3,008.99 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.054
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 53,063,559 years

Kepler-7 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
18.18 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.622 R♃
Mass
140.16 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.441 M♃
Density
0.14 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.42 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.054
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

#63of 1771

top 3.5%

This planet

18.18R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-7 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0018.1811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00140.16317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.141.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.422.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.001,375.110.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 140.163 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 121660904

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2102117871259036672

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2102117871259036672

System

Kepler-7

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 18.181 R⊕ · percentile 96 / cohort 1771
Mass 140.163 M⊕ · percentile 11 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 4.89 d · percentile 36 / cohort 1533
Distance 922.56 pc · percentile 85 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.054 · percentile 6 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
4.885 days
Semi-major axis
0.0607 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
85.16 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 4.89 Earth days (1.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0607 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.757 %

Duration

5.131 h

Impact parameter b

0.560

Rp / R★

0.082940

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,967.2769

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 7,569 ppm lasting ≈ 5.13 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.082940

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

6.637

Impact parameter (b)

0.560

RV semi-amplitude (K)

42.900 m/s

Occultation depth

0.004 ppm

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,967.2769

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.06580

Eq. Temperature

1,630K

(1357 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

1,375.11

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.054

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

Latham 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-7

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,933 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.90 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.966 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.359 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

3.980 dex

Stellar density

0.320 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

0.40 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

4.20 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
922.56 parsec
Light-years 3,008.99 ly
V-band magnitude
13.01 mag
Voyager-speed travel 53,063,559 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

8.913.613.62B13.01V12.86Gaia12.89Kepler12.45TESS13.26Sloan g12.82Sloan r12.72Sloan i12.68Sloan z11.83J11.60H11.54K11.51W111.55W211.67W38.92W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.055 mas

Total Proper Motion

21.157 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-2.96 mas/yr

PM Declination

-20.95 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.240 · y = -0.714 · z = 0.657

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 288.58149° · Dec 41.08973°

Galactic ℓ, b

72.478° · 13.463°

Ecliptic λ, β

301.360° · 62.520°

HTM-20 index

-1321322063

Observation Record

Photometric series

1

RV measurements

1

Archive notes

1

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