NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)Kepler-442b
A rocky super-Earth often ranked among the most habitable known worlds
Overview
Kepler-442b is a confirmed near-Earth-sized exoplanet, likely rocky, orbiting within the habitable zone of the K-type main-sequence star Kepler-442, about 1,196 light-years (367 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Lyra.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: Kepler-442 b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 2.36 Earths, it takes 112.3 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.409 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2015.
Why it matters
- Discovered in 2015, about 1.3 Earth radii, orbiting an orange K-dwarf every 112 days.
- A 2021 study suggested it receives enough light to support a sizeable biosphere via photosynthesis.
- About 1,200 light-years away, so beyond current atmospheric follow-up.
NASA puts it this way: “Kepler-442 b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 2.36 Earths, it takes 112.3 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.409 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2015.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2015 · Transit · Kepler
- Discovery paper
- Torres et al. 2015
- Discoverers
- Kepler Space Telescope
- Host star
- Kepler-442 · 4,402 K · 0.61 M☉
- System
- 1 known planet
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kepler-442 b | 112.3 d | 0.409 AU | 1.34 R⊕ | 2.36 M⊕ | 241 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1.34 R⊕8,537 km
- Mass
- 2.36 M⊕14.09 ×10²⁴ kg
- Orbital period
- 112.3 d0.31 yr
- Distance from star
- 0.409 AU61 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0.04nearly circular
- Equilibrium temp.
- 241 K-32 °C
- Starlight received
- 0.66 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 1,194 ly366 pc
- Density
- 5.39 g/cm³0.98 × 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.