Exoplanet · mini-Neptune
Kepler-242 b
Kepler-242 b is a mini-Neptune orbiting the star Kepler-242. Its year lasts 8.2 Earth days. It was discovered in 2014 by the Transit method.
| Host star | Kepler-242 |
|---|---|
| Distance | 1,958 light-years (600.2 pc) |
| Orbital period | 8.2 days |
| Orbital radius | 0.075 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.000 |
| Radius | 2.61 R⊕ · 0.233 R♃ |
| Mass | 7.32 M⊕ · 0.023 M♃ (estimated from the radius) |
| Density | 2.26 g/cm³ |
| Equilibrium temperature | 742 K (469 °C) |
| Stellar flux received | 43.8 × Earth |
| Discovery method | Transit |
| Discovery year | 2014 |
| Discovered by | Kepler |
Habitable zone
Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 43.8 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 6° 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 15.49. Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 48° S. North of latitude 48° 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 around the year 68. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 35 million years.
Planets in the same system
- Kepler-242 c 14.5-day orbit · 2 R⊕
Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, PSCompPars. Its look in the simulation is a rendering based on the measured radius, mass and temperature.