Key parameters at a glance

A radius of 4.65 Earth radii
A mass of 19.50 Earth masses
Surface gravity around 0.90 g
An orbital period of 7.039 days
Semi-major axis 0.0734 AU
Equilibrium temperature 1,060 K (787 °C)
Distance from Earth 3,907.45 light-years
Earth Similarity Index 0.181
Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 68,907,819 years

Kepler-972 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius

4.65 R⊕

Radius (Jupiter)

0.415 R♃

Mass

19.50 M⊕

Mass (Jupiter)

0.061 M♃

Density

1.07 g/cm³

Surface Gravity

0.90 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Neptune-like

ESI Score 0.181

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

#438of 574

top 76.1%

This planet

4.65R⊕

Neptune-like median

6.39R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Kepler-47 c 4.65 R⊕ Kepler-867 b 4.64 R⊕ Kepler-222 c 4.64 R⊕

Metric	Earth	Kepler-972 b	Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)	1.00	4.65	11.21
Mass (M⊕)	1.00	19.50	317.83
Density (g/cm³)	5.51	1.07	1.33
Surface Gravity (g)	1.00	0.90	2.53
Insolation (S⊕)	1.00	266.51	0.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 271967039

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2078038738412342656

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2078038738412342656

System

Kepler-972

Percentile among Neptune-like cohort

Radius 4.650 R⊕ · percentile 24 / cohort 574

Mass 19.500 M⊕ · percentile 27 / cohort 574

Orbital period 7.04 d · percentile 28 / cohort 524

Distance 1,198.03 pc · percentile 78 / cohort 572

ESI 0.181 · percentile 23 / cohort 574

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period

7.039 days

Semi-major axis

0.0734 AU

Eccentricity

0.000

Inclination

81.05 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 7.04 Earth days (1.9% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0734 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.090 %

Duration

3.448 h

Impact parameter b

0.956

Rp / R★

0.034783

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,966.8539

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 901 ppm lasting ≈ 3.45 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.034783

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

6.400

Impact parameter (b)

0.956

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,966.8539

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.06130

Eq. Temperature

1,060K

(787 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

266.51

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.181

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the dayside is scorched.

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

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2016 at Kepler (12 shown).

Kepler-1512 b · Rocky Terrestrial Kepler-1410 b · Super-Earth Kepler-560 b · Super-Earth Kepler-1389 b · Super-Earth Kepler-1450 b · Super-Earth Kepler-1544 b · Super-Earth Kepler-1459 b · Super-Earth Kepler-1638 b · Super-Earth Kepler-737 b · Super-Earth Kepler-1185 b · Super-Earth Kepler-1178 b · Rocky Terrestrial Kepler-1040 b · Sub-Neptune

Host System: Kepler-972

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,146 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.82 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.220 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.150 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.04

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.330 dex

Stellar density

0.088 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance

1,198.03 parsec

Light-years 3,907.45 ly

V-band magnitude

15.08 mag

Voyager-speed travel 68,907,819 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

Astrometric Data

Parallax

0.807 mas

Total Proper Motion

7.162 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-1.94 mas/yr

PM Declination

-6.89 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.316 · y = -0.654 · z = 0.687

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 295.82868° · Dec 43.42544°

Galactic ℓ, b

77.043° · 9.694°

Ecliptic λ, β

314.112° · 62.964°

HTM-20 index

-1501412301