Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-966 b

A neptune-like orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) Kepler-966, located approximately 3,352.2 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 4.13 Earth radii
  • A mass of 16.00 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.94 g
  • An orbital period of 99.748 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.3907 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 391 K (118 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 3,352.23 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.497
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 59,116,597 years

Kepler-966 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
4.13 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.368 R♃
Mass
16.00 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.050 M♃
Density
1.25 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.94 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Neptune-like

ESI Score 0.497
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

#537of 574

top 93.4%

This planet

4.13R⊕

Neptune-like median

6.39R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-966 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.004.1311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0016.00317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.251.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.942.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0010.970.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 28159758

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2087263361789975040

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2087263361789975040

System

Kepler-966

Percentile among Neptune-like cohort

Radius 4.130 R⊕ · percentile 6 / cohort 574
Mass 16.000 M⊕ · percentile 12 / cohort 574
Orbital period 99.75 d · percentile 82 / cohort 524
Distance 1,027.80 pc · percentile 75 / cohort 572
ESI 0.497 · percentile 90 / cohort 574

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
99.748 days
Semi-major axis
0.3907 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.32 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 99.75 Earth days (27.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.3907 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.129 %

Duration

6.744 h

Impact parameter b

0.780

Rp / R★

0.036953

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,041.3954

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,287 ppm lasting ≈ 6.74 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.036953

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

69.900

Impact parameter (b)

0.780

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,041.3954

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.38000

Eq. Temperature

391K

(118 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

10.97

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.497

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water.

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

Morton et al. 2016

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2016-05

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-966

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,840 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.07 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.020 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.020 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.04

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.430 dex

Stellar density

0.650 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
1,027.80 parsec
Light-years 3,352.23 ly
V-band magnitude
14.73 mag
Voyager-speed travel 59,116,597 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.415.315.35B14.73V14.44Gaia14.42Kepler13.92TESS15.00Sloan g14.39Sloan r14.18Sloan i14.08Sloan z13.12J12.75H12.75K12.69W112.73W212.71W39.39W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

0.944 mas

Total Proper Motion

5.255 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-3.40 mas/yr

PM Declination

4.01 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.294 · y = -0.570 · z = 0.767

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 297.27058° · Dec 50.12184°

Galactic ℓ, b

83.523° · 12.000°

Ecliptic λ, β

323.467° · 68.556°

HTM-20 index

-884654293

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