Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-859 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-859, located approximately 2,739.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 3.09 Earth radii
  • A mass of 9.75 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.02 g
  • An orbital period of 20.382 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1316 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 528 K (255 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 2,739.39 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.435
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 48,309,211 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-859 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
3.09 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.276 R♃
Mass
9.75 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.031 M♃
Density
1.82 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.02 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.435
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

#443of 1978

top 22.3%

This planet

3.09R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-859 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.003.0911.21
Mass (M⊕)1.009.75317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.821.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.022.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0014.900.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 158317824

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2105604800586437760

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2105604800586437760

System

Kepler-859

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 3.090 R⊕ · percentile 78 / cohort 1978
Mass 9.750 M⊕ · percentile 71 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 20.38 d · percentile 63 / cohort 1946
Distance 839.90 pc · percentile 68 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.435 · percentile 59 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
20.382 days
Semi-major axis
0.1316 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.59 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 20.38 Earth days (5.6% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1316 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.160 %

Duration

3.743 h

Impact parameter b

0.520

Rp / R★

0.036746

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,975.3145

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,597 ppm lasting ≈ 3.74 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.036746

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

43.130

Impact parameter (b)

0.520

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,975.3145

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.15700

Eq. Temperature

528K

(255 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

14.90

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.435

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-859

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,020 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.57 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.770 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.810 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.02

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.590 dex

Stellar density

2.110 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
839.90 parsec
Light-years 2,739.39 ly
V-band magnitude
15.98 mag
Voyager-speed travel 48,309,211 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.017.017.04B15.98V15.88Gaia15.89Kepler15.28TESS16.62Sloan g15.85Sloan r15.57Sloan i15.45Sloan z14.42J13.95H13.86K13.82W113.91W212.45W39.05W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.163 mas

Total Proper Motion

5.556 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-2.24 mas/yr

PM Declination

5.09 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.210 · y = -0.698 · z = 0.684

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 286.74183° · Dec 43.19012°

Galactic ℓ, b

73.901° · 15.554°

Ecliptic λ, β

299.688° · 64.913°

HTM-20 index

1139245872

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