Artist impression of Kepler-991 b exoplanet
Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016 Habitable Zone

Kepler-991 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Kepler-991, located approximately 1,270.6 light-years from Earth.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.54 Earth radii
  • A mass of 6.99 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.08 g
  • An orbital period of 82.534 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.3104 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 260 K (-13 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,270.58 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.710
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 22,406,617 years

Context from the literature

The list of exoplanets detected by the Kepler space telescope contains bodies with a wide variety of properties, with significant ranges in orbital distances, masses, radii, composition, habitability, and host star type. As of June 16 2023, the Kepler space telescope and its follow-up observations have detected 2,778 planets, including hot Jupiters, super-Earths, circumbinary planets, and planets located in the circumstellar habitable zones of their host stars. Kepler has detected over 3,601 unconfirmed planet candidates and 2,165 eclipsing binary stars.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

Kepler-991 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.54 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.227 R♃
Mass
6.99 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.022 M♃
Density
2.34 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.08 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.710
HZ Position Habitable
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2016
Method Transit
Facility Kepler
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1117of 1978

top 56.4%

This planet

2.54R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Kepler-991 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.5411.21
Mass (M⊕)1.006.99317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.341.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.082.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.001.370.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 28084836

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2087215262455233664

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2087215262455233664

System

Kepler-991

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.540 R⊕ · percentile 43 / cohort 1978
Mass 6.990 M⊕ · percentile 40 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 82.53 d · percentile 92 / cohort 1946
Distance 389.56 pc · percentile 40 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.710 · percentile 93 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
82.534 days
Semi-major axis
0.3104 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.99 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 82.53 Earth days (22.6% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.3104 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.190 %

Duration

4.834 h

Impact parameter b

0.033

Rp / R★

0.037544

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,042.1264

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,895 ppm lasting ≈ 4.83 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.037544

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

134.800

Impact parameter (b)

0.033

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,042.1264

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.79700

Eq. Temperature

260K

(-13 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

1.37

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.710

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Within the conservative habitable zone — surface water would be frozen.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Morton et al. 2016

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2016-05

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Kepler-991

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,392 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.47 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.610 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.640 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.25

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.670 dex

Stellar density

6.803 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
389.56 parsec
Light-years 1,270.58 ly
V-band magnitude
15.63 mag
Voyager-speed travel 22,406,617 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

9.216.316.25B15.63V15.15Gaia15.19Kepler14.40TESS16.26Sloan g15.14Sloan r14.73Sloan i14.47Sloan z13.33J12.72H12.61K12.56W112.61W212.79W39.25W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.538 mas

Total Proper Motion

21.596 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-14.33 mas/yr

PM Declination

-16.15 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.295 · y = -0.577 · z = 0.762

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 297.09055° · Dec 49.62649°

Galactic ℓ, b

83.020° · 11.868°

Ecliptic λ, β

322.531° · 68.182°

HTM-20 index

1413371458

Wikipedia → Image: Wikimedia Commons · NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech · Public domain

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