Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2019

NGTS-4 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange NGTS-4, located approximately 915.0 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 3.18 Earth radii
  • A mass of 20.60 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 2.04 g
  • An orbital period of 1.337 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0190 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,650 K (1377 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 915.05 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.140
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 16,136,852 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

NGTS-4 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
3.18 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.284 R♃
Mass
20.60 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.065 M♃
Density
3.45 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
2.04 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.140
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2019
Method Transit
Facility Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS)
Telescope 20 cm NGTS telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#367of 1978

top 18.5%

This planet

3.18R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth NGTS-4 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.003.1811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0020.60317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.513.451.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.002.042.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00886.980.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 20.600 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 143143769

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2891248292906892032

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2891248292906892032

System

NGTS-4

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 3.180 R⊕ · percentile 81 / cohort 1978
Mass 20.600 M⊕ · percentile 95 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 1.34 d · percentile 1 / cohort 1946
Distance 280.56 pc · percentile 34 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.140 · percentile 2 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
1.337 days
Semi-major axis
0.0190 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
82.50 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 1.34 Earth days (0.4% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0190 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.123 %

Duration

1.800 h

Impact parameter b

0.350

Rp / R★

0.035000

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,607.9975

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,227 ppm lasting ≈ 1.80 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.035000

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

4.790

Impact parameter (b)

0.350

RV semi-amplitude (K)

13.700 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,607.9975

Long. of periastron (ω)

0.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.06770

Eq. Temperature

1,650K

(1377 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

886.98

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.140

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

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

West et al. 2019

Instrument

NGTS CCD array

Publication

2019-07

Observation locale

Ground

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2019 at Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) (4 shown).

Host System: NGTS-4

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,143 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.840 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.750 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.28

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.500 dex

Stellar density

1.910 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

111.20 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

2.75 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[M/H]

Distance
280.56 parsec
Light-years 915.05 ly
V-band magnitude
13.14 mag
Voyager-speed travel 16,136,852 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

8.814.013.95B13.14V12.91Gaia12.37TESS11.58J11.14H11.07K11.03W111.09W210.98W38.76W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.536 mas

Total Proper Motion

18.420 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-16.88 mas/yr

PM Declination

-7.37 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.006 · y = 0.859 · z = -0.512

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 89.59889° · Dec -30.81180°

Galactic ℓ, b

236.579° · -24.135°

Ecliptic λ, β

89.407° · -54.250°

HTM-20 index

-531502396

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