Kepler-10c
| Exoplanet | List of exoplanets | |
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Parent star | ||
| Star | Kepler-10 | |
| Constellation | Draco | |
| Right ascension | (α) | 19h 02m 43s |
| Declination | (δ) | +50° 14′ 29″ |
| Apparent magnitude | (mV) | 11.157 |
| Distance | 564 ± 88 ly (173 ± 27 pc) |
|
| Spectral type | G | |
| Mass | (m) | 0.910 ± 0.021 M☉ |
| Radius | (r) | 1.065 ± 0.009 R☉ |
| Temperature | (T) | 5708 ± 28 K |
| Metallicity | [Fe/H] | −0.15 ± 0.04 |
| Age | 10.6+1.5 −1.3 Gyr |
|
| Orbital elements | ||
| Semi-major axis | (a) | 0.2407+0.0044 −0.0053AU |
| Orbital period | (P) | 45.29485+0.00065 −0.00076d |
| Inclination | (i) | 89.65+0.09 −0.12° |
| Time of transit | (Tt) | 245971.6761+0.002 −0.0023JD |
| Physical characteristics | ||
| Mass | (m) | 17.2 ± 1.9M⊕ |
| Radius | (r) | 2.35+0.09 −0.04R⊕ |
| Density | (ρ) | 7100 ± 1000kg m−3 |
| Surface gravity | (g) | ~30m/s² |
| Temperature | (T) | Teq: 584 +54 −17 K |
| Discovery information | ||
| Discovery date | Announced May 23, 2011 | |
| Discoverer(s) | ||
| Discovery method | Transit (Kepler Mission) | |
| Other detection methods | Transit timing variations, Radial velocity |
|
| Discovery status | Announced | |
Kepler-10c is an exoplanet orbiting the G-type starKepler-10, located around 568 light-years away in Draco. Its discovery was announced by Kepler in May 2011, although it had been seen as a planetary candidate since January 2011, when Kepler-10b was discovered. The team confirmed the observation using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and a technique called Blender that ruled out most false positives. Kepler-10c was the third transiting planet to be confirmed statistically (based on probability rather than actual observation), after Kepler-9d and Kepler-11g. The Kepler team considers the statistical method that led to the discovery of Kepler-10c as what will be necessary to confirm many planets in Kepler's field of view.
Kepler-10c orbits its host star every forty-five days at a quarter of the average distance between the Sun and Earth. It has a radius more than double that of Earth, but a higher density, suggesting a mainly rocky composition with around 5–20% ices by mass. For comparison, the Earth's oceans represent only 0.02% of our planet's mass, with an additional amount potentially a few times this stored in the mantle.
In January 2011, the closely orbiting planet Kepler-10b was confirmed in the orbit of the star Kepler-10 after measurements of its transiting behavior (where it crosses in front of Kepler-10, periodically dimming it) and a radial velocity effect detected in Kepler-10's spectrum provided the information needed to prove that it was indeed a planet. An additional, longer-period dimming was detected in Kepler-10's spectrum, suggesting that a second planet existed in the system; however, there remained the possibility that this signal could have some other cause, and that the transit event was a false positive. Attempts to measure the radial velocity effects of this object, now named KOI 072.02, were fruitless; therefore, to rule out false positive scenarios, the Kepler team used a technique called Blender.
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