Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2026

TOI-2431 b

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange TOI-2431, located approximately 117.6 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.53 Earth radii
  • A mass of 6.20 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 2.63 g
  • An orbital period of 0.224 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0063 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,063 K (1790 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 117.60 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.117
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 2,073,849 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

TOI-2431 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.53 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.137 R♃
Mass
6.20 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.020 M♃
Density
9.40 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
2.63 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.117
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2026
Method Transit
Facility Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
Telescope 0.1 m TESS Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#685of 1176

top 58.2%

This planet

1.53R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth TOI-2431 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.5311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.006.20317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.519.401.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.002.632.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.002,649.150.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 6.200 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HIP

HIP 11707

TIC

TIC 258804746

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 22707874346819712

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 22707874346819712

System

TOI-2431

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.534 R⊕ · percentile 42 / cohort 1176
Mass 6.200 M⊕ · percentile 94 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 0.22 d · percentile 0 / cohort 1164
Distance 36.06 pc · percentile 8 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.117 · percentile 2 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
0.224 days
Semi-major axis
0.0063 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
74.00 °

Year Length

A year here lasts roughly 5.4 hours long on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0063 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.054 %

Duration

0.292 h

Impact parameter b

0.573

Rp / R★

0.021310

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,460,258.8686

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 540 ppm lasting ≈ 0.29 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.021310

Impact parameter (b)

0.573

RV semi-amplitude (K)

8.200 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,460,258.8686

Long. of periastron (ω)

90.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.17500

Eq. Temperature

2,063K

(1790 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

2,649.15

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.117

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

Tas et al. 2026

Instrument

TESS CCD Array

Publication

2026-03

Observation locale

Space

Host System: TOI-2431

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,109 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.00 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.651 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.661 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.02

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.680 dex

Stellar density

3.250 g/cm³

Rotational v·sin i

2.00 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
36.06 parsec
Light-years 117.60 ly
V-band magnitude
10.90 mag
Voyager-speed travel 2,073,849 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 7 bands

7.612.212.19B10.90V10.32Gaia9.52TESS8.36J7.73H7.55K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

27.706 mas

Total Proper Motion

384.596 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

374.95 mas/yr

PM Declination

-85.58 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.782 · y = 0.606 · z = 0.146

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 37.76530° · Dec 8.38163°

Galactic ℓ, b

160.640° · -47.065°

Ecliptic λ, β

38.125° · -6.158°

HTM-20 index

-623868270

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