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Exoplanet · super-Earth

K2-5 b

K2-5 b is a super-Earth orbiting the star K2-5. Its year lasts 5.74 Earth days. It was discovered in 2015 by the Transit method.

Host starK2-5
Distance661.9 light-years (202.9 pc)
Orbital period5.74 days
Orbital radius0.0532 AU
Radius1.91 R⊕ · 0.17 R♃
Mass4.31 M⊕ · 0.0136 M♃ (estimated from the radius)
Density3.4 g/cm³
Equilibrium temperature565 K (292 °C)
Stellar flux received24.1 × Earth
Discovery methodTransit
Discovery year2015
Discovered byK2

Habitable zone

Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 24.1 times the light the Earth does, too hot to keep liquid water on its surface.

Its star in the sky

In the planet's sky its star is a disc 5.7° across: 11 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.

In the sky

A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 14.97. Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 88° N. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out around the year 1364. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 12 million years.

Planets in the same system

  • K2-5 c 10.9-day orbit · 2.26 R⊕

Open in the simulation

Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, PSCompPars. Its look in the simulation is a rendering based on the measured radius, mass and temperature.