Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2026

TOI-7009 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange TOI-7009, located approximately 600.5 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 3.71 Earth radii
  • A mass of 13.30 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.97 g
  • An orbital period of 2.321 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0287 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 872 K (599 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 600.52 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.246
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 10,590,142 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

TOI-7009 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
3.71 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.331 R♃
Mass
13.30 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.042 M♃
Density
1.43 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.97 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.246
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

#85of 1978

top 4.2%

This planet

3.71R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth TOI-7009 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.003.7111.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0013.30317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.431.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.972.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0042.410.037

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 405837291

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2233920659406441856

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2233920659406441856

System

TOI-7009

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 3.710 R⊕ · percentile 96 / cohort 1978
Mass 13.300 M⊕ · percentile 88 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 2.32 d · percentile 3 / cohort 1946
Distance 184.12 pc · percentile 28 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.246 · percentile 15 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
2.321 days
Semi-major axis
0.0287 AU
Eccentricity
Inclination
86.10 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 2.32 Earth days (0.6% of a terrestrial year) at a mean orbital distance of 0.0287 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.294 %

Duration

1.227 h

Impact parameter b

0.744

Rp / R★

0.060300

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,460,392.3627

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 2,935 ppm lasting ≈ 1.23 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.060300

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

10.950

Impact parameter (b)

0.744

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,460,392.3627

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.15600

Eq. Temperature

872K

(599 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

42.41

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.246

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.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Morello et al. 2026

Instrument

TESS CCD Array

Publication

2026-01

Observation locale

Space

Host System: TOI-7009

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,080 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.564 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.583 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.630 dex

Stellar density

4.610 g/cm³

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
184.12 parsec
Light-years 600.52 ly
V-band magnitude
14.16 mag
Voyager-speed travel 10,590,142 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

9.415.215.24B14.16V13.72Gaia12.93TESS11.82J11.16H11.01K10.93W110.97W210.88W39.38W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

5.402 mas

Total Proper Motion

36.552 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-36.06 mas/yr

PM Declination

5.95 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.278 · y = -0.491 · z = 0.826

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 299.51313° · Dec 55.65103°

Galactic ℓ, b

89.166° · 13.448°

Ecliptic λ, β

336.283° · 72.327°

HTM-20 index

1876951527

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