Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2017

YZ Cet c

A rocky terrestrial orbiting the m-type red dwarf YZ Cet, located approximately 12.1 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.05 Earth radii
  • A mass of 1.14 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.03 g
  • An orbital period of 3.060 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0216 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 410 K (137 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 12.11 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.757
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 213,509 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

2 siblings around YZ Cet

YZ Cet c 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
YZ Cet b Rocky Terrestrial 0.91 0.70 2.021 471 2017
YZ Cet c this Rocky Terrestrial 1.05 1.14 3.060 410 2017
YZ Cet d Rocky Terrestrial 1.03 1.09 4.656 357 2017

YZ Cet c Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.05 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.093 R♃
Mass
1.14 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.004 M♃
Density
5.41 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.03 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Rocky Terrestrial

ESI Score 0.757
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2017
Method Radial Velocity
Facility La Silla Observatory
Telescope 3.6 m ESO Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#279of 570

top 48.8%

This planet

1.05R⊕

Rocky Terrestrial median

1.01R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth YZ Cet c Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.0511.21
Mass (M⊕)1.001.14317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.515.411.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.032.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.004.720.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Minimum mass (M sin i) 1.140 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HIP

HIP 5643

TIC

TIC 439403362

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2358524597030794112

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2358524597030794112

System

YZ Cet

Percentile among Rocky Terrestrial cohort

Radius 1.050 R⊕ · percentile 50 / cohort 570
Mass 1.140 M⊕ · percentile 44 / cohort 570
Orbital period 3.06 d · percentile 34 / cohort 567
Distance 3.71 pc · percentile 2 / cohort 566
ESI 0.757 · percentile 85 / cohort 570

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.060 days
Semi-major axis
0.0216 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.06 Earth days (0.8% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0216 AU.

Eq. Temperature

410K

(137 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

4.72

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.757

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

Instrument

HARPS Spectrograph

Publication

2017-09

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: YZ Cet

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

3,151 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.80 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.157 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.142 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.18

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

5.170 dex

Systemic radial velocity

28.30 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

2.00 km/s

Rotation period

68.28 days

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
3.71 parsec
Light-years 12.11 ly
V-band magnitude
12.07 mag
Voyager-speed travel 213,509 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 6 bands

6.413.813.80B12.07V10.43Gaia12.30TESS8.91Ic6.42K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

269.363 mas

Total Proper Motion

1,363.523 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

1,205.18 mas/yr

PM Declination

637.76 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.909 · y = 0.298 · z = -0.292

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 18.13308° · Dec -16.99624°

Galactic ℓ, b

149.724° · -78.755°

Ecliptic λ, β

9.785° · -22.742°

HTM-20 index

987040254

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