NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)Kepler-186f
The first Earth-sized planet found in another star's habitable zone
Overview
Kepler-186f is a candidate Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Kepler-186, the outermost of five planets discovered around the star by NASA's Kepler space telescope. It is located about 580 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: Kepler-186 f is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a M-type star. Its mass is 1.71 Earths, it takes 129.9 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.432 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2014.
Why it matters
- Discovered in 2014; about 1.17 Earth radii orbiting a red dwarf every 130 days.
- Sits near the outer edge of the habitable zone, receiving about a third of Earth's sunlight.
- Its star is dimmer and redder than the Sun, so high noon would look like late evening.
NASA puts it this way: “Kepler-186 f is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits an M-type star. Its mass is 1.71 Earths, it takes 129.9 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.432 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2014.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2014 · Transit · Kepler
- Discovery paper
- Quintana et al. 2014
- Discoverers
- Kepler Space Telescope
- Host star
- Kepler-186 · M1 · 3,755 K · 0.54 M☉
- System
- 5 known planets
- Siblings
- Kepler-186 b, Kepler-186 c, Kepler-186 d, Kepler-186 e
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kepler-186 b | 3.89 d | 0.034 AU | 1.07 R⊕ | 1.24 M⊕ | 571 K |
| Kepler-186 c | 7.27 d | 0.045 AU | 1.25 R⊕ | 2.1 M⊕ | 464 K |
| Kepler-186 d | 13.3 d | 0.078 AU | 1.4 R⊕ | 2.54 M⊕ | 379 K |
| Kepler-186 e | 22.4 d | 0.11 AU | 1.27 R⊕ | 2.15 M⊕ | 319 K |
| Kepler-186 f ? | 129.9 d | 0.432 AU | 1.17 R⊕ | 1.71 M⊕ | 177 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1.17 R⊕7,454 km
- Mass
- 1.71 M⊕10.21 ×10²⁴ kg
- Orbital period
- 129.9 d0.36 yr
- Distance from star
- 0.432 AU65 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0.04nearly circular
- Equilibrium temp.
- 177 K-96 °C
- Starlight received
- 0.3 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 579 ly177.6 pc
- Density
- 5.87 g/cm³1.07 × 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.