Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-968 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-968, located approximately 946.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.00 Earth radii
  • A mass of 4.66 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.17 g
  • An orbital period of 3.693 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0389 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 745 K (472 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 946.91 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.369
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 16,698,742 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

2 siblings around Kepler-968

Kepler-968 b shares its host star with 2 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
Kepler-968 b this Sub-Neptune 2.00 4.66 3.693 745 2016
Kepler-968 c Super-Earth 1.69 3.50 5.709 644 2016
KOI-1833 d Sub-Neptune 2.58 11.02 7.685 613 2021

Kepler-968 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.00 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.178 R♃
Mass
4.66 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.015 M♃
Density
3.20 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.17 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.369
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

#1955of 1978

top 98.8%

This planet

2.00R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-968 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.0011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.004.66317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.513.201.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.172.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00103.910.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 350814607

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2132152474478407040

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2132152474478407040

System

Kepler-968

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.000 R⊕ · percentile 0 / cohort 1978
Mass 4.660 M⊕ · percentile 2 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 3.69 d · percentile 7 / cohort 1946
Distance 290.32 pc · percentile 34 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.369 · percentile 46 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.693 days
Semi-major axis
0.0389 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
85.88 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.69 Earth days (1.0% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0389 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.079 %

Duration

1.729 h

Impact parameter b

0.207

Rp / R★

0.025522

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,965.7370

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 790 ppm lasting ≈ 1.73 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.025522

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

16.400

Impact parameter (b)

0.207

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,965.7370

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.13400

Eq. Temperature

745K

(472 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

103.91

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.369

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-968

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,598 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.14 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.700 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.760 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.13

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.630 dex

Stellar density

6.117 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
290.32 parsec
Light-years 946.91 ly
V-band magnitude
14.63 mag
Voyager-speed travel 16,698,742 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.016.216.18B14.63V14.25Gaia14.27Kepler13.53TESS15.26Sloan g14.19Sloan r13.84Sloan i13.59Sloan z12.52J11.97H11.83K11.76W111.82W211.93W38.98W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.416 mas

Total Proper Motion

5.156 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-4.75 mas/yr

PM Declination

2.01 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.172 · y = -0.618 · z = 0.767

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 285.60259° · Dec 50.11204°

Galactic ℓ, b

80.344° · 18.818°

Ecliptic λ, β

303.407° · 71.745°

HTM-20 index

286825291

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