Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2025 Habitable Zone

TOI-1266 d

A super-earth orbiting the m-type red dwarf TOI-1266, located approximately 117.5 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.74 Earth radii
  • A mass of 3.68 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.22 g
  • An orbital period of 32.509 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1513 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 288 K (15 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 117.45 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.875
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 2,071,313 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

2 siblings around TOI-1266

TOI-1266 d shares its host star with 2 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
TOI-1266 b Sub-Neptune 2.52 4.46 10.895 415 2020
TOI-1266 c Super-Earth 1.98 3.17 18.803 346 2020
TOI-1266 d this Super-Earth 1.74 3.68 32.509 288 2025

TOI-1266 d Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.74 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.155 R♃
Mass
3.68 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.012 M♃
Density
3.84 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.22 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.875
HZ Position Habitable
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2025
Method Transit Timing Variations
Facility Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
Telescope 0.1 m TESS Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#344of 1176

top 29.2%

This planet

1.74R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth TOI-1266 d Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.7411.21
Mass (M⊕)1.003.68317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.513.841.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.222.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.001.300.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 3.680 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 4.590 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 467179528

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 1678074272650459008

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 1678074272650459008

System

TOI-1266

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.740 R⊕ · percentile 70 / cohort 1176
Mass 3.680 M⊕ · percentile 64 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 32.51 d · percentile 92 / cohort 1164
Distance 36.01 pc · percentile 8 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.875 · percentile 96 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
32.509 days
Semi-major axis
0.1513 AU
Eccentricity
0.087
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 32.51 Earth days (8.9% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1513 AU.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

73.980

RV semi-amplitude (K)

1.630 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,729.0300

Angular separation (arcsec)

4.20000

Eq. Temperature

288K

(15 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

1.30

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.875

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Within the conservative habitable zone — liquid water is physically possible with adequate atmospheric pressure. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Discovery Paper

Instrument

TESS CCD Array

Publication

2024-09

Observation locale

Space

Host System: TOI-1266

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

3,563 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

4.60 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.423 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.437 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.826 dex

Stellar density

8.130 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-41.58 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

1.30 km/s

Rotation period

44.60 days

Activity index (log R'HK)

-5.500

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
36.01 parsec
Light-years 117.45 ly
V-band magnitude
12.94 mag
Voyager-speed travel 2,071,313 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 16 bands

8.216.516.53U14.58B12.94V12.12Gaia11.04TESS14.95Sloan g12.58Sloan r11.60Sloan i11.61Sloan z9.71J9.07H8.84K8.72W18.61W28.50W38.23W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

27.740 mas

Total Proper Motion

152.773 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-150.65 mas/yr

PM Declination

-25.37 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.389 · y = -0.126 · z = 0.912

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 197.99658° · Dec 65.83370°

Galactic ℓ, b

119.581° · 51.161°

Ecliptic λ, β

147.620° · 62.547°

HTM-20 index

-1935697101

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