Kepler-1229
Red dwarf with a potentially habitable super-Earth exoplanet.
Kepler-1229 is a red dwarf star approximately 875 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It is notable for hosting a super-Earth exoplanet, Kepler-1229b, discovered in 2016 within the star's habitable zone.
Quick Facts
- Distance
- 875 ly
- Mass
- 54% of the Sun
- Radius
- 51% of the Sun
- Temperature
- 3784 K
- Age
- 3.72 billion years
- Metallicity ([fe/h])
- −0.06
- Apparent magnitude
- 15.474
Facts from the source article.
Nomenclature and history
Before Kepler observations, the star was catalogued as 2MASS J19495680+4659481 and in the Kepler Input Catalog as KIC 10027247. When a transiting planet candidate was identified, it received the Kepler object of interest number KOI-2418. The Kepler Mission detected planetary candidates by measuring dips in a star's brightness, which may indicate a planet crossing in front of the star. After the discovery paper was accepted, the Kepler team assigned the system the name Kepler-1229, following the standard naming convention for exoplanets found by the spacecraft. Candidate planets are given designations like ".01" after the star's name, ordered by discovery or orbital period; the sole candidate here has an orbital period of 86.829 days. The planet received the letter "b" as the first discovered planet around this star. The name Kepler-1229 indicates it is the 1,229th star with confirmed planets found by Kepler.
Stellar characteristics
Kepler-1229 is a red dwarf with about 54% of the Sun's mass and 51% of its radius. Its temperature is 3784 K, and its age is roughly 3.72 billion years. The star has a metallicity of −0.06, meaning it has about 87% of the iron and heavier metals found in the Sun. Its luminosity is about 4.8% of the solar luminosity, and its apparent magnitude of 15.474 makes it invisible to the naked eye.
Planetary system
Kepler-1229b, the only confirmed planet in its system, passes directly in front of its star from Earth’s viewpoint. Its orbital tilt stays within one degree of our line of sight, which lets astronomers directly measure its orbital period and how large it is relative to its star. This super-Earth is probably rocky, with a radius 1.4 times Earth’s, and it sits well inside the habitable zone. Its stellar flux, size, and equilibrium temperature resemble those of the potentially habitable exoplanet Kepler-62f. There is a hint of another planet with a 0.589-day orbit, but that signal might be a false alarm caused by a star located 14.29 arcseconds away.
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