Exoplanet · Earth-sized rocky planet
KOI-55 b
KOI-55 b is a Earth-sized rocky planet orbiting the star KOI-55. Its year lasts 0.24 Earth days. It was discovered in 2011 by the Orbital Brightness Modulation method.
| Host star | KOI-55 |
|---|---|
| Distance | 4,015 light-years (1,231 pc) |
| Orbital period | 5.76 hours |
| Orbital radius | 0.006 AU |
| Radius | 0.759 R⊕ · 0.0677 R♃ |
| Mass | 0.44 M⊕ · 0.00138 M♃ |
| Density | 5.53 g/cm³ |
| Surface gravity | 0.764 × Earth |
| Equilibrium temperature | 7,778 K (7,505 °C) |
| Stellar flux received | 636,000 × Earth |
| Discovery method | Orbital Brightness Modulation |
| Discovery year | 2011 |
| Discovered by | Kepler |
Habitable zone
Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 636,000 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 18° across: 34 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.
In the sky
A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 15.15. Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 49° S. North of latitude 49° 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 4,015 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 71 million years.
Planets in the same system
- KOI-55 c 0.343-day orbit · 0.867 R⊕
Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, PSCompPars. Its look in the simulation is a rendering based on the measured radius, mass and temperature.