Kepler-62: A Five-Planet System with Planets of 1.4 and 1.6 Earth Radii in the Habitable Zone

May 2013 • 2013Sci...340..587B

Authors • Borucki, William J. • Agol, Eric • Fressin, Francois • Kaltenegger, Lisa • Rowe, Jason • Isaacson, Howard • Fischer, Debra • Batalha, Natalie • Lissauer, Jack J. • Marcy, Geoffrey W. • Fabrycky, Daniel • Désert, Jean-Michel • Bryson, Stephen T. • Barclay, Thomas • Bastien, Fabienne • Boss, Alan • Brugamyer, Erik • Buchhave, Lars A. • Burke, Chris • Caldwell, Douglas A. • Carter, Josh • Charbonneau, David • Crepp, Justin R. • Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jørgen • Christiansen, Jessie L. • Ciardi, David • Cochran, William D. • DeVore, Edna • Doyle, Laurance • Dupree, Andrea K. • Endl, Michael • Everett, Mark E. • Ford, Eric B. • Fortney, Jonathan • Gautier, Thomas N. • Geary, John C. • Gould, Alan • Haas, Michael • Henze, Christopher • Howard, Andrew W. • Howell, Steve B. • Huber, Daniel • Jenkins, Jon M. • Kjeldsen, Hans • Kolbl, Rea • Kolodziejczak, Jeffery • Latham, David W. • Lee, Brian L. • Lopez, Eric • Mullally, Fergal • Orosz, Jerome A. • Prsa, Andrej • Quintana, Elisa V. • Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto • Sasselov, Dimitar • Seader, Shawn • Shporer, Avi • Steffen, Jason H. • Still, Martin • Tenenbaum, Peter • Thompson, Susan E. • Torres, Guillermo • Twicken, Joseph D. • Welsh, William F. • Winn, Joshua N.

Abstract • We present the detection of five planets—Kepler-62b, c, d, e, and f—of size 1.31, 0.54, 1.95, 1.61 and 1.41 Earth radii (R_⊕), orbiting a K2V star at periods of 5.7, 12.4, 18.2, 122.4, and 267.3 days, respectively. The outermost planets, Kepler-62e and -62f, are super-Earth-size (1.25 R_⊕ < planet radius ≤ 2.0 R_⊕) planets in the habitable zone of their host star, respectively receiving 1.2 ± 0.2 times and 0.41 ± 0.05 times the solar flux at Earth’s orbit. Theoretical models of Kepler-62e and -62f for a stellar age of ~7 billion years suggest that both planets could be solid, either with a rocky composition or composed of mostly solid water in their bulk.

Links

• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2013Sci...340..587B
• PDF https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.1234702
• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.7387
• DATA http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/DisplayOverview/nph-DisplayOverview?type=REFERENCE&bibcode=2013Sci...340..587B
• DATA https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/bibdata/2013/B/2013Sci...340..587B.html
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.1234702