Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2024

TOI-260 b

A super-earth orbiting the k-type orange TOI-260, located approximately 65.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.71 Earth radii
  • A mass of 4.23 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.45 g
  • An orbital period of 13.476 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0943 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 493 K (220 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 65.84 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.585
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 1,161,004 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

TOI-260 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.71 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.153 R♃
Mass
4.23 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.013 M♃
Density
4.66 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.45 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Super-Earth

ESI Score 0.585
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2024
Method Transit
Facility Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
Telescope 0.1 m TESS Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#385of 1176

top 32.7%

This planet

1.71R⊕

Super-Earth median

1.60R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth TOI-260 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.7111.21
Mass (M⊕)1.004.23317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.514.661.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.452.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0010.180.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 4.230 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 37749396

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2428162410789155328

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2428162410789155328

System

TOI-260

Percentile among Super-Earth cohort

Radius 1.710 R⊕ · percentile 66 / cohort 1176
Mass 4.230 M⊕ · percentile 80 / cohort 1176
Orbital period 13.48 d · percentile 74 / cohort 1164
Distance 20.19 pc · percentile 4 / cohort 1171
ESI 0.585 · percentile 80 / cohort 1176

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
13.476 days
Semi-major axis
0.0943 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
88.84 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 13.48 Earth days (3.7% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0943 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.071 %

Duration

2.370 h

Impact parameter b

0.679

Rp / R★

0.025800

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,458,392.2942

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 709 ppm lasting ≈ 2.37 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.025800

Impact parameter (b)

0.679

RV semi-amplitude (K)

1.570 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,392.2942

Long. of periastron (ω)

90.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

4.67000

Eq. Temperature

493K

(220 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

10.18

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.585

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

Polanski et al. 2024

Instrument

TESS CCD Array

Publication

2024-06

Observation locale

Space

Host System: TOI-260

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,026 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

15.90 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.607 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.616 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.47

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.450 dex

Stellar density

4.697 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

3.30 km/s

Rotation period

31.00 days

Activity index (log R'HK)

-4.979

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
20.19 parsec
Light-years 65.84 ly
V-band magnitude
9.90 mag
Voyager-speed travel 1,161,004 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 12 bands

6.514.814.78U11.23B9.90V9.31Gaia8.50TESS10.74Sloan g13.22Sloan r8.85Sloan i8.93Sloan z7.38J6.71H6.55K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

49.512 mas

Total Proper Motion

303.648 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-36.59 mas/yr

PM Declination

-301.44 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.981 · y = 0.082 · z = -0.173

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 4.77302° · Dec -9.96615°

Galactic ℓ, b

97.443° · -71.219°

Ecliptic λ, β

0.367° · -11.034°

HTM-20 index

1917574237

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