NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)Kepler-452b
'Earth's cousin': a 385-day orbit around a star much like the Sun
Overview
Kepler-452b is a disputed super-Earth exoplanet candidate. Initial reports claim it is orbiting within the inner edge of the habitable zone of the sun-like star Kepler-452 and is the only planet in the system discovered by the Kepler space telescope. It is located about 1,800 light-years (550 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. Two subsequent reports refuted the claim but additional work has reestablished the claim.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: Kepler-452 b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a G-type star. Its mass is 3.29 Earths, it takes 384.8 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 1.046 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2015.
Why it matters
- Announced in 2015 as the first near-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a G2 star.
- About 1.6 Earth radii; its star is 1.5 billion years older than the Sun, offering a glimpse of Earth's future.
- A 2018 statistical reanalysis argued the signal is not strong enough to count as confirmed — it remains debated.
NASA puts it this way: “An "Earth-cousin" that orbits a star like our sun in the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2015 · Transit · Kepler
- Discovery paper
- Jenkins et al. 2015
- Discoverers
- Kepler Space Telescope
- Host star
- Kepler-452 · G2 · 5,757 K · 1.04 M☉
- System
- 1 known planet
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kepler-452 b ? | 384.8 d | 1.05 AU | 1.63 R⊕ | 3.29 M⊕ | 265 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1.63 R⊕10,385 km
- Mass
- 3.29 M⊕19.65 ×10²⁴ kg
- Orbital period
- 384.8 d1.05 yr
- Distance from star
- 1.05 AU156 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0nearly circular
- Equilibrium temp.
- 265 K-8 °C
- Starlight received
- 1 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 1,799 ly551.7 pc
- Density
- 4.17 g/cm³0.76 × 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.