Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2014

Kepler-99 b

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-99, located approximately 679.6 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.48 Earth radii
  • A mass of 6.15 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 2.81 g
  • An orbital period of 4.604 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0507 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 810 K (537 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 679.61 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.329
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 11,984,886 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Kepler-99 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.48 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.132 R♃
Mass
6.15 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.019 M♃
Density
10.90 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
2.81 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.329
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2014
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#784of 1176

top 66.6%

This planet

1.48R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-99 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.4811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.006.15317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.5110.901.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.002.812.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00108.040.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 6.150 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 3.813 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 169462917

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2076871091425583232

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2076871091425583232

System

Kepler-99

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.480 R⊕ · percentile 32 / cohort 1176
Mass 6.150 M⊕ · percentile 94 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 4.60 d · percentile 37 / cohort 1164
Distance 208.37 pc · percentile 25 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.329 · percentile 45 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
4.604 days
Semi-major axis
0.0507 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.05 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 4.60 Earth days (1.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0507 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.045 %

Duration

2.350 h

Impact parameter b

0.210

Rp / R★

0.018475

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,004.8389

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 450 ppm lasting ≈ 2.35 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.018475

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

14.810

Impact parameter (b)

0.210

RV semi-amplitude (K)

2.910 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,004.8389

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.24300

Eq. Temperature

810K

(537 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

108.04

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.329

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.

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Marcy et al. 2014

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2014-02

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-99

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,782 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

1.47 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.730 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.790 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.18

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.605 dex

Stellar density

2.860 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-23.00 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

0.50 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
208.37 parsec
Light-years 679.61 ly
V-band magnitude
13.21 mag
Voyager-speed travel 11,984,886 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.315.115.09B13.21V12.96Gaia12.97Kepler12.30TESS13.82Sloan g12.90Sloan r12.61Sloan i12.44Sloan z11.37J10.85H10.76K10.68W110.77W210.74W39.29W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

4.770 mas

Total Proper Motion

3.503 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

1.38 mas/yr

PM Declination

-3.22 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.345 · y = -0.667 · z = 0.660

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 297.35400° · Dec 41.30005°

Galactic ℓ, b

75.715° · 7.678°

Ecliptic λ, β

314.628° · 60.571°

HTM-20 index

-982359184

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