Kepler-62: A five-planet system with planets of 1.4 and 1.6 Earth radii in the habitable zone

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

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

192 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)587-590
Number of pages4
JournalScience
Volume340
Issue number6132
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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