Kepler-69c
Kepler-69c (also known by its Kepler Object of Interest designation KOI-172.02) is a confirmed super-Earth extrasolar planet, likely rocky, orbiting the Sun-like star Kepler-69, the outermore of two such planets discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. It is located about 2,430 light-years (746 parsecs) from Earth.
Artist's impression of the Kepler-69 system (sizes to scale) compared to the planets of the inner Solar System with their respective habitable zones. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Kepler spacecraft |
| Discovery date | 18 April 2013 |
| Transit (Kepler Mission Method) | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| 0.64+0.15 −0.11 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.14+0.18 −0.1 |
| 242.4613 ± 0.006 d | |
| Inclination | 89.85+0.03 −0.08 |
| Star | Kepler-69 |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 1.71+0.34 −0.23 R🜨 |
| Mass | 2.14 ME |
Mean density | 2.36 g cm–3 |
| 0.73 g | |
| Temperature | Teq: 325 K (52 °C; 125 °F) Surface: 548 K (275 °C; 527 °F) |
Kepler-69c orbits its star at a distance of 0.64 AU (96,000,000 km; 59,000,000 mi) from its host star with an orbital period of roughly 242.46 days, has a mass at least 2.14x times that of Earth, and has a radius of around 1.7 times that of Earth. Initial findings found that it could possibly be habitable, however updated analysis shows that Kepler-69c resides outside of the inner edge of the habitable zone, and thus is highly likely to resemble the planet Venus with temperatures and conditions far too hot to sustain any life, making it uninhabitable.
The discovery of the exoplanet was announced in April 2013 by NASA as part of the Kepler spacecraft data release. The exoplanet was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured.