NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)Kepler-1520b
A Mercury-sized planet disintegrating into a dusty comet-like tail
Overview
Kepler-1520b, is a confirmed exoplanet orbiting the K-type main sequence star Kepler-1520. It is located about 2,020 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. The exoplanet was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured. The planet was previously proposed in 2012 when reports of its host star recorded drops in its luminosity varying from 0.2% to 1.3%, which indicated a possible planetary companion rapidly disintegrating. In 2015, the planetary nature of the cause of the dips was finally verified. It is expected to disintegrate in about 40–400 million years.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: Kepler-1520 b is a Neptune-like exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 28.1 Earths, it takes 0.7 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.0129 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2016.
Why it matters
- Also known as KIC 12557548 b; its transits vary wildly in depth from orbit to orbit.
- A 15.7-hour orbit heats the surface enough to vaporise rock, which condenses into a trailing dust cloud.
- The planet is losing mass fast and may vanish within a few hundred million years.
NASA puts it this way: “Kepler-1520 b is a Neptune-like exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 28.1 Earths, it takes 0.7 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.0129 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2016.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2016 · Transit · Kepler
- Discovery paper
- Morton et al. 2016
- Discoverers
- Kepler Space Telescope
- Host star
- Kepler-1520 · 4,677 K · 0.76 M☉
- System
- 1 known planet
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kepler-1520 b | 15.7 h | 0.013 AU | 0.51 R♃ | 28.1 M⊕ | 1,437 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 0.51 R♃5.8 R⊕
- Mass
- 28.1 M⊕167.82 ×10²⁴ kg
- Orbital period
- 15.7 h
- Distance from star
- 0.013 AU1.93 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0nearly circular
- Equilibrium temp.
- 1,437 K1,164 °C
- Starlight received
- 1,134 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 1,983 ly607.9 pc
- Density
- 0.8 g/cm³0.15 × 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.