Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

Kepler-970 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-970, located approximately 1,081.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.61 Earth radii
  • A mass of 7.31 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.07 g
  • An orbital period of 16.737 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1390 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 464 K (191 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,081.35 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.521
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 19,069,675 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-970 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.61 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.233 R♃
Mass
7.31 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.023 M♃
Density
2.26 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.07 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.521
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

#1011of 1978

top 51.1%

This planet

2.61R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-970 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.6111.21
Mass (M⊕)1.007.31317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.261.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.072.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0011.110.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 122069243

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2101379205604338688

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2101379205604338688

System

Kepler-970

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.609 R⊕ · percentile 49 / cohort 1978
Mass 7.310 M⊕ · percentile 45 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 16.74 d · percentile 56 / cohort 1946
Distance 331.55 pc · percentile 37 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.521 · percentile 73 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
16.737 days
Semi-major axis
0.1390 AU
Eccentricity
0.340
Inclination
88.74 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 16.74 Earth days (4.6% of a terrestrial year) on a highly eccentric trajectory at a mean orbital distance of 0.1390 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.129 %

Duration

2.200 h

Impact parameter b

0.700

Rp / R★

0.033700

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,976.1326

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,289 ppm lasting ≈ 2.20 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.033700

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

42.200

Impact parameter (b)

0.700

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,976.1326

Long. of periastron (ω)

117.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.41900

Eq. Temperature

464K

(191 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

11.11

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.521

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.

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-970

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,290 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

0.10 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.710 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.670 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.04

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.618 dex

Stellar density

2.650 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-27.15 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

5.20 km/s

Rotation period

9.23 days

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
331.55 parsec
Light-years 1,081.35 ly
V-band magnitude
15.21 mag
Voyager-speed travel 19,069,675 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.216.616.56B15.21V14.81Gaia14.79Kepler14.06TESS15.79Sloan g14.74Sloan r14.36Sloan i14.13Sloan z12.98J12.36H12.22K12.16W112.19W212.20W39.20W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.987 mas

Total Proper Motion

3.246 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-2.75 mas/yr

PM Declination

1.73 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.255 · y = -0.714 · z = 0.652

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 289.62522° · Dec 40.70874°

Galactic ℓ, b

72.462° · 12.587°

Ecliptic λ, β

302.757° · 61.934°

HTM-20 index

-1390855294

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