Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2012

Kepler-81 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the m-type red dwarf Kepler-81, located approximately 1,136.0 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.42 Earth radii
  • A mass of 17.20 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 2.94 g
  • An orbital period of 5.955 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0522 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 635 K (362 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,135.97 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.420
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 20,032,865 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

2 siblings around Kepler-81

Kepler-81 b shares its host star with 2 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
Kepler-81 b this Sub-Neptune 2.42 17.20 5.955 635 2012
Kepler-81 c Sub-Neptune 2.37 4.30 12.040 502 2012
Kepler-81 d Rocky Terrestrial 1.21 1.92 20.838 418 2014

Kepler-81 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.42 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.216 R♃
Mass
17.20 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.054 M♃
Density
6.67 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
2.94 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.420
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2012
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1299of 1978

top 65.6%

This planet

2.42R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-81 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.4211.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0017.20317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.516.671.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.002.942.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0039.950.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 17.200 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 270611154

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2077816087307845248

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2077816087307845248

System

Kepler-81

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.420 R⊕ · percentile 34 / cohort 1978
Mass 17.200 M⊕ · percentile 94 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 5.96 d · percentile 17 / cohort 1946
Distance 348.29 pc · percentile 38 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.420 · percentile 57 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
5.955 days
Semi-major axis
0.0522 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.00 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 5.96 Earth days (1.6% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0522 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.151 %

Duration

2.369 h

Impact parameter b

0.810

Rp / R★

0.034923

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,003.9581

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,505 ppm lasting ≈ 2.37 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.034923

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

19.882

Impact parameter (b)

0.810

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,003.9581

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.15000

Eq. Temperature

635K

(362 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

39.95

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.420

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.

Transit timing variations

Gravitational interactions from neighbours have been detected.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Xie 2013

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2013-10

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-81

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

4,385 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.63 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.590 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.640 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.18

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.700 dex

Stellar density

4.193 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[M/H]

Distance
348.29 parsec
Light-years 1,135.97 ly
V-band magnitude
15.26 mag
Voyager-speed travel 20,032,865 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.416.616.64B15.26V15.00Gaia15.02Kepler14.25TESS16.12Sloan g14.97Sloan r14.55Sloan i14.32Sloan z13.17J12.58H12.39K12.37W112.43W212.84W39.45W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.843 mas

Total Proper Motion

24.701 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-1.37 mas/yr

PM Declination

-24.66 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.294 · y = -0.672 · z = 0.680

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 293.63694° · Dec 42.82483°

Galactic ℓ, b

75.746° · 10.830°

Ecliptic λ, β

310.352° · 62.991°

HTM-20 index

-84634903

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