NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)K2-141b
A world where rock evaporates, blows as supersonic wind and rains back as stone
Overview
K2-141b is a massive rocky exoplanet orbiting extremely close to a K Type orange main-sequence star K2-141. The planet was first discovered by the Kepler space telescope during its K2 “Second Light” mission and later observed by the HARPS-N spectrograph. It is classified as an ultra-short period planet (USP) and is confirmed to be terrestrial in nature. Its high density implies a massive iron core taking up between 30% and 50% of the planet's total mass.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: K2-141 b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 4.97 Earths, it takes 0.3 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.00747 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2018.
Why it matters
- A 6.7-hour orbit keeps one side permanently facing the star at about 3,000 K.
- Models predict a sodium and silicon-oxide 'atmosphere' that condenses back onto the magma ocean.
- Two-thirds of the planet is in permanent night at about −200 °C.
NASA puts it this way: “K2-141 b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 4.97 Earths, it takes 0.3 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.00747 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2018.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2018 · Transit · K2
- Discovery paper
- Malavolta et al. 2018
- Host star
- K2-141 · K7 V · 4,570 K · 0.71 M☉
- System
- 2 known planets
- Siblings
- K2-141 c
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K2-141 b | 6.7 h | 0.0075 AU | 1.51 R⊕ | 4.97 M⊕ | 2,103 K |
| K2-141 c | 7.75 d | 0.068 AU | 0.62 R♃ | 8 M⊕ | 695 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1.51 R⊕9,620 km
- Mass
- 4.97 M⊕29.68 ×10²⁴ kg
- Orbital period
- 6.7 h
- Distance from star
- 0.0075 AU1.12 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0nearly circular
- Equilibrium temp.
- 2,103 K1,830 °C
- Starlight received
- 3,260 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 202 ly61.9 pc
- Density
- 7.93 g/cm³1.44 × Earth
Sources
Image: NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork) · NASA media: generally free of copyright · image page
Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Taglines and highlights are editorial.