Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-960 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-960, located approximately 929.3 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.29 Earth radii
  • A mass of 5.86 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.12 g
  • An orbital period of 3.127 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0381 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,391 K (1118 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 929.27 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.179
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 16,387,687 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-960 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.29 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.204 R♃
Mass
5.86 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.018 M♃
Density
2.68 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.12 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.179
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

#1519of 1978

top 76.7%

This planet

2.29R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-960 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.2911.21
Mass (M⊕)1.005.86317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.681.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.122.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00129.220.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 123357476

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2119194936102585472

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2119194936102585472

System

Kepler-960

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.290 R⊕ · percentile 23 / cohort 1978
Mass 5.860 M⊕ · percentile 22 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 3.13 d · percentile 5 / cohort 1946
Distance 284.92 pc · percentile 34 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.179 · percentile 4 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.127 days
Semi-major axis
0.0381 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
87.93 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.13 Earth days (0.9% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0381 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.079 %

Duration

1.198 h

Impact parameter b

0.725

Rp / R★

0.028578

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,966.7245

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 795 ppm lasting ≈ 1.20 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.028578

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

20.250

Impact parameter (b)

0.725

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,966.7245

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.13400

Eq. Temperature

1,391K

(1118 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

129.22

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.179

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.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Morton et al. 2016

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2016-05

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-960

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,755 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.63 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.720 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.770 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.02

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.610 dex

Stellar density

2.210 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
284.92 parsec
Light-years 929.27 ly
V-band magnitude
14.13 mag
Voyager-speed travel 16,387,687 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.515.915.87B14.13V13.84Gaia13.88Kepler13.18TESS14.77Sloan g13.80Sloan r13.50Sloan i13.33Sloan z12.27J11.73H11.62K11.53W111.60W211.66W39.55W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.481 mas

Total Proper Motion

19.473 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

1.83 mas/yr

PM Declination

19.39 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.136 · y = -0.672 · z = 0.728

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 281.45722° · Dec 46.74655°

Galactic ℓ, b

76.011° · 20.306°

Ecliptic λ, β

292.630° · 69.287°

HTM-20 index

1696531864

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