Exoplanet · gas giant
Kepler-117 b
Kepler-117 b is a gas giant orbiting the star Kepler-117. Its year lasts 18.8 Earth days. It was discovered in 2014 by the Transit method.
| Host star | Kepler-117 |
|---|---|
| Distance | 4,747 light-years (1,456 pc) |
| Orbital period | 18.8 days |
| Orbital radius | 0.145 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.049 |
| Radius | 8.06 R⊕ · 0.719 R♃ |
| Mass | 29.9 M⊕ · 0.094 M♃ |
| Density | 0.3 g/cm³ |
| Surface gravity | 0.46 × Earth |
| Equilibrium temperature | 984 K (711 °C) |
| Stellar flux received | 158 × Earth |
| Discovery method | Transit |
| Discovery year | 2014 |
| Discovered by | Kepler |
Habitable zone
Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 158 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 5.9° 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 14.28. Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 42° S. North of latitude 42° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 4,747 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 84 million years.
Planets in the same system
- Kepler-117 c 50.8-day orbit · 12.3 R⊕
Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, PSCompPars. Its look in the simulation is a rendering based on the measured radius, mass and temperature.