Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-861 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-861, located approximately 2,773.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.28 Earth radii
  • A mass of 5.82 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.12 g
  • An orbital period of 3.950 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0463 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 966 K (693 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 2,773.39 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.269
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 48,908,775 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-861 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.28 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.203 R♃
Mass
5.82 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.018 M♃
Density
2.70 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.12 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.269
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

#1536of 1978

top 77.6%

This planet

2.28R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-861 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.2811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.005.82317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.701.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.122.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00197.290.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 63206411

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2128256286308183552

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2128256286308183552

System

Kepler-861

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.280 R⊕ · percentile 22 / cohort 1978
Mass 5.820 M⊕ · percentile 22 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 3.95 d · percentile 8 / cohort 1946
Distance 850.33 pc · percentile 69 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.269 · percentile 21 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.950 days
Semi-major axis
0.0463 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.86 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.95 Earth days (1.1% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0463 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.081 %

Duration

1.579 h

Impact parameter b

0.020

Rp / R★

0.026662

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,967.6094

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 807 ppm lasting ≈ 1.58 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.026662

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

19.966

Impact parameter (b)

0.020

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,967.6094

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.05440

Eq. Temperature

966K

(693 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

197.29

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.269

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-861

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,047 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.47 Gyr — younger 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

7.449 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
850.33 parsec
Light-years 2,773.39 ly
V-band magnitude
15.99 mag
Voyager-speed travel 48,908,775 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.517.016.96B15.99V15.60Gaia15.62Kepler14.98TESS16.37Sloan g15.54Sloan r15.30Sloan i15.13Sloan z14.13J13.67H13.53K13.52W113.65W212.78W39.50W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

1.148 mas

Total Proper Motion

8.776 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

5.65 mas/yr

PM Declination

-6.72 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.263 · y = -0.640 · z = 0.722

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 292.35396° · Dec 46.22625°

Galactic ℓ, b

78.445° · 13.161°

Ecliptic λ, β

311.267° · 66.491°

HTM-20 index

-832010834

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