Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2013

Kepler-91 b

A gas giant orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-91, located approximately 4,222.7 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 15.32 Earth radii
  • A mass of 257.44 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.10 g
  • An orbital period of 6.247 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0731 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,040 K (1767 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 4,222.71 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.053
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 74,467,471 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-91 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
15.32 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.367 R♃
Mass
257.44 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.810 M♃
Density
0.40 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.10 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.053
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2013
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#208of 1771

top 11.7%

This planet

15.32R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-91 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0015.3211.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00257.44317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.401.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.102.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.003,273.320.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 257.442 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 352011875

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2105909326647414400

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2105909326647414400

System

Kepler-91

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 15.323 R⊕ · percentile 88 / cohort 1771
Mass 257.442 M⊕ · percentile 28 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 6.25 d · percentile 40 / cohort 1533
Distance 1,294.69 pc · percentile 89 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.053 · percentile 6 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
6.247 days
Semi-major axis
0.0731 AU
Eccentricity
0.052
Inclination
69.68 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 6.25 Earth days (1.7% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0731 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.040 %

Duration

11.261 h

Impact parameter b

0.867

Rp / R★

0.021810

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,969.3958

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 397 ppm lasting ≈ 11.26 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.021810

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

2.496

Impact parameter (b)

0.867

RV semi-amplitude (K)

70.000 m/s

Occultation depth

0.004 ppm

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,969.3958

Long. of periastron (ω)

-57.20°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.05650

Eq. Temperature

2,040K

(1767 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

3,273.32

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.053

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the dayside is scorched. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Detection Signatures

Transit photometry

A transit dip has been observed from at least one telescope.

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Transit timing variations

Gravitational interactions from neighbours have been detected.

Orbital-brightness modulation

Host star brightness varies with the planet's orbit.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Lillo Box et al. 2014

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2014-02

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-91

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,550 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.47 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

6.300 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.310 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

2.953 dex

Stellar density

0.007 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-62.01 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

6.80 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
1,294.69 parsec
Light-years 4,222.71 ly
V-band magnitude
12.71 mag
Voyager-speed travel 74,467,471 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.214.114.10B12.71V12.48Gaia12.50Kepler11.80TESS13.41Sloan g12.41Sloan r12.10Sloan i11.92Sloan z10.79J10.24H10.14K10.04W110.16W29.98W39.25W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

0.744 mas

Total Proper Motion

4.260 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-0.77 mas/yr

PM Declination

4.19 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.194 · y = -0.691 · z = 0.696

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 285.67290° · Dec 44.11675°

Galactic ℓ, b

74.486° · 16.622°

Ecliptic λ, β

298.490° · 66.013°

HTM-20 index

256248480

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