Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-721 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-721, located approximately 3,022.2 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.64 Earth radii
  • A mass of 7.46 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.07 g
  • An orbital period of 5.392 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0583 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 850 K (577 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 3,022.15 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.291
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 53,295,700 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-721 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.64 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.236 R♃
Mass
7.46 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.024 M♃
Density
2.23 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.07 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.291
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

#958of 1978

top 48.4%

This planet

2.64R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-721 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.6411.21
Mass (M⊕)1.007.46317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.231.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.072.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00138.750.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 164726831

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2106717678151463040

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2106717678151463040

System

Kepler-721

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.640 R⊕ · percentile 51 / cohort 1978
Mass 7.460 M⊕ · percentile 47 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 5.39 d · percentile 14 / cohort 1946
Distance 926.60 pc · percentile 74 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.291 · percentile 26 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
5.392 days
Semi-major axis
0.0583 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
88.67 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 5.39 Earth days (1.5% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0583 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.115 %

Duration

2.981 h

Impact parameter b

0.790

Rp / R★

0.031472

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,004.7274

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,151 ppm lasting ≈ 2.98 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.031472

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

13.780

Impact parameter (b)

0.790

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,004.7274

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.06290

Eq. Temperature

850K

(577 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

138.75

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.291

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-721

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,075 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.90 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.780 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.820 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.01

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.580 dex

Stellar density

1.701 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
926.60 parsec
Light-years 3,022.15 ly
V-band magnitude
15.96 mag
Voyager-speed travel 53,295,700 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

8.717.017.03B15.96V15.64Gaia15.65Kepler15.04TESS16.35Sloan g15.56Sloan r15.35Sloan i15.23Sloan z14.19J13.74H13.63K13.66W113.66W212.70W38.71W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.052 mas

Total Proper Motion

28.069 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

1.61 mas/yr

PM Declination

-28.02 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.178 · y = -0.691 · z = 0.701

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 284.43051° · Dec 44.48038°

Galactic ℓ, b

74.499° · 17.583°

Ecliptic λ, β

296.584° · 66.593°

HTM-20 index

962704569

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