Your search

We report on 176 close (<2″) stellar companions detected with high-resolution imaging near 170 hosts of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs). These Kepler targets were prioritized for imaging follow-up based on the presence of small planets, so most of the KOIs in these systems (176 out of 204) have nominal radii <6 . Each KOI in our sample was observed in at least two filters with adaptive optics, speckle imaging, lucky imaging, or the Hubble Space Telescope. Multi-filter photometry provides color information on the companions, allowing us to constrain their stellar properties and assess the probability that the companions are physically bound. We find that 60%-80% of companions within 1″ are bound, and the bound fraction is >90% for companions within 0.″5; the bound fraction decreases with increasing angular separation. This picture is consistent with simulations of the binary and background stellar populations in the Kepler field. We also reassess the planet radii in these systems, converting the observed differential magnitudes to a contamination in the Kepler bandpass and calculating the planet radius correction factor, X R = R p(true)/R p(single). Under the assumption that planets in bound binaries are equally likely to orbit the primary or secondary, we find a mean radius correction factor for planets in stellar multiples of X R = 1.65. If stellar multiplicity in the Kepler field is similar to the solar neighborhood, then nearly half of all Kepler planets may have radii underestimated by an average of 65%, unless vetted using high-resolution imaging or spectroscopy. © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Though there are now many hundreds of confirmed exoplanets known, the binarity of exoplanet host stars is not well understood. This is particularly true of host stars that harbor a giant planet in a highly eccentric orbit since these are more likely to have had a dramatic dynamical history that transferred angular momentum to the planet. Here we present observations of four exoplanet host stars that utilize the excellent resolving power of the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument on the Gemini North telescope. Two of the stars are giants and two are dwarfs. Each star is host to a giant planet with an orbital eccentricity >0.5 and whose radial velocity (RV) data contain a trend in the residuals to the Keplerian orbit fit. These observations rule out stellar companions 4-8 mag fainter than the host star at passbands of 692 nm and 880 nm. The resolution and field of view of the instrument result in exclusion radii of 0.″05-1.″4, which excludes stellar companions within several AU of the host star in most cases. We further provide new RVs for the HD 4203 system that confirm that the linear trend previously observed in the residuals is due to an additional planet. These results place dynamical constraints on the source of the planet's eccentricities, place constraints on additional planetary companions, and inform the known distribution of multiplicity amongst exoplanet host stars. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

We recently used near-infrared spectroscopy to improve the characterization of 76 low-mass stars around which K2 had detected 79 candidate transiting planets. 29 of these worlds were new discoveries that had not previously been published. We calculate the false positive probabilities that the transit-like signals are actually caused by non-planetary astrophysical phenomena and reject five new transit-like events and three previously reported events as false positives. We also statistically validate 17 planets (7 of which were previously unpublished), confirm the earlier validation of 22 planets, and announce 17 newly discovered planet candidates. Revising the properties of the associated planet candidates based on the updated host star characteristics and refitting the transit photometry, we find that our sample contains 21 planets or planet candidates with radii smaller than 1.25 R ⊕, 18 super-Earths (1.25-2 R ⊕), 21 small Neptunes (2-4 R ⊕), three large Neptunes (4-6 R ⊕), and eight giant planets (>6 R ⊕). Most of these planets are highly irradiated, but EPIC 206209135.04 (K2-72e, ), EPIC 211988320.01 (), and EPIC 212690867.01 () orbit within optimistic habitable zone boundaries set by the "recent Venus" inner limit and the "early Mars" outer limit. In total, our planet sample includes eight moderately irradiated 1.5-3 R ⊕ planet candidates (F p ≲ 20 F ⊕) orbiting brighter stars (Ks < 11) that are well-suited for atmospheric investigations with the Hubble, Spitzer, and/or James Webb Space Telescopes. Five validated planets orbit relatively bright stars (Kp < 12.5) and are expected to yield radial velocity semi-amplitudes of at least 2 m s-1. Accordingly, they are possible targets for radial velocity mass measurement with current facilities or the upcoming generation of red optical and near-infrared high-precision RV spectrographs. © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

We measure the mass of a modestly irradiated giant planet, KOI-94d. We wish to determine whether this planet, which is in a 22 day orbit and receives 2700 times as much incident flux as Jupiter, is as dense as Jupiter or rarefied like inflated hot Jupiters. KOI-94 also hosts at least three smaller transiting planets, all of which were detected by the Kepler mission. With 26 radial velocities of KOI-94 from the W. M. Keck Observatory and a simultaneous fit to the Kepler light curve, we measure the mass of the giant planet and determine that it is not inflated. Support for the planetary interpretation of the other three candidates comes from gravitational interactions through transit timing variations, the statistical robustness of multi-planet systems against false positives, and several lines of evidence that no other star resides within the photometric aperture. We report the properties of KOI-94b (M P = 10.5 ± 4.6 M ⊕, R P = 1.71 ± 0.16 R ⊕, P = 3.74 days), KOI-94c (M P = M ⊕, R P = 4.32 ± 0.41 R ⊕, P = 10.4 days), KOI-94d (M P = 106 ± 11 M ⊕, R P = 11.27 ± 1.06 R ⊕, P = 22.3 days), and KOI-94e (M P = M ⊕, R P = 6.56 ± 0.62 R ⊕, P = 54.3 days). The radial velocity analyses of KOI-94b and KOI-94e offer marginal (>2σ) mass detections, whereas the observations of KOI-94c offer only an upper limit to its mass. Using the KOI-94 system and other planets with published values for both mass and radius (138 exoplanets total, including 35 with M P < 150 M ⊕), we establish two fundamental planes for exoplanets that relate their mass, incident flux, and radius from a few Earth masses up to 13 Jupiter masses: (R P/R ⊕) = 1.78(M P/M ⊕)0.53(F/erg s–1 cm–2)–0.03 for M P < 150 M ⊕, and R P/R ⊕ = 2.45(M P/M ⊕)–0.039(F/erg s–1 cm–2)0.094 for M P > 150 M ⊕. These equations can be used to predict the radius or mass of a planet.

We present results from a Keck/HIRES radial velocity campaign to study four sub-Saturn-sized planets, K2-27b, K2-32b, K2-39b, and K2-108b, with the goal of understanding their masses, orbits, and heavy-element enrichment. The planets have similar sizes (RP=4.5-5.5 ), but have dissimilar masses (MP=16-60 ), implying a diversity in their core and envelope masses. K2-32b is the least massive (MP = 16.5 ± 2.7 M) and orbits in close proximity to two sub-Neptunes near a 3:2:1 period commensurability. K2-27b and K2-39b are significantly more massive at MP = 30.9 ± 4.6 M and MP = 39.8 ± 4.4 M, respectively, and show no signs of additional planets. K2-108b is the most massive at MP = 59.4 ± 4.4 M, implying a large reservoir of heavy elements of about ≈50 . Sub-Saturns as a population have a large diversity in planet mass at a given size. They exhibit remarkably little correlation between mass and size; sub-Saturns range from ≈6-60 M, regardless of size. We find a strong correlation between planet mass and host star metallicity, suggesting that metal-rich disks form more massive planet cores. The most massive sub-Saturns tend to lack detected companions and have moderately eccentric orbits, perhaps as a result of a previous epoch of dynamical instability. Finally, we observe only a weak correlation between the planet envelope fraction and present-day equilibrium temperature, suggesting that photo-evaporation does not play a dominant role in determining the amount of gas sub-Saturns accrete from their protoplanetary disks. © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

A main goal of NASA's Kepler Mission is to establish the frequency of potentially habitable Earth-size planets (). Relatively few such candidates identified by the mission can be confirmed to be rocky via dynamical measurement of their mass. Here we report an effort to validate 18 of them statistically using the BLENDER technique, by showing that the likelihood they are true planets is far greater than that of a false positive. Our analysis incorporates follow-up observations including high-resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy, high-resolution imaging, and information from the analysis of the flux centroids of the Kepler observations themselves. Although many of these candidates have been previously validated by others, the confidence levels reported typically ignore the possibility that the planet may transit a star different from the target along the same line of sight. If that were the case, a planet that appears small enough to be rocky may actually be considerably larger and therefore less interesting from the point of view of habitability. We take this into consideration here and are able to validate 15 of our candidates at a 99.73% (3σ) significance level or higher, and the other three at a slightly lower confidence. We characterize the GKM host stars using available ground-based observations and provide updated parameters for the planets, with sizes between 0.8 and 2.9 R ⊕. Seven of them (KOI-0438.02, 0463.01, 2418.01, 2626.01, 3282.01, 4036.01, and 5856.01) have a better than 50% chance of being smaller than 2 R ⊕ and being in the habitable zone of their host stars. © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

We present the discovery of three modestly irradiated, roughly Neptune-mass planets orbiting three nearby Solartype stars. HD 42618 b has a minimum mass of 15.4±2.4 M⊕, a semimajor axis of 0.55 au, an equilibrium temperature of 337 K, and is the first planet discovered to orbit the solar analogue host star, HD 42618. We also discover new planets orbiting the known exoplanet host stars HD 164922 and HD 143761 (p CrB). The new planet orbiting HD 164922 has a minimum mass of 12.9±1.6 M⊕ and orbits interior to the previously known Jovian mass planet orbiting at 2.1 au. HD 164922 c has a semimajor axis of 0.34 au and an equilibrium temperature of 418 K. HD 143761 c orbits with a semimajor axis of 0.44 au, has a minimum mass of 25±2 M⊕, and is the warmest of the three new planets with an equilibrium temperature of 445 K. It orbits exterior to the previously known warm Jupiter in the system. A transit search using space-based CoRoT data and ground-based photometry from the Automated Photometric Telescopes (APTs) at Fairborn Observatory failed to detect any transits, but the precise, high-cadence APT photometry helped to disentangle planetary-reflex motion from stellar activity. These planets were discovered as part of an ongoing radial velocity survey of bright, nearby, chromospherically inactive stars using the Automated Planet Finder (APF) telescope at Lick Observatory. The high-cadence APF data combined with nearly two decades of radial velocity data from Keck Observatory and gives unprecedented sensitivity to both short-period low-mass, and long-period intermediate-mass planets. © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

We present the discovery and characterization of a giant planet orbiting the young Sun-like star Kepler-63 (KOI-63, M⊙Kp = 11.6, T eff = 5576 K, M⊙ = 0.98 M⊙). The planet transits every 9.43 days, with apparent depth variations and brightening anomalies caused by large starspots. The planet's radius is 6.1 ± 0.2 R ⊕, based on the transit light curve and the estimated stellar parameters. The planet's mass could not be measured with the existing radial-velocity data, due to the high level of stellar activity, but if we assume a circular orbit, then we can place a rough upper bound of 120 M ⊙⊕ (3σ). The host star has a high obliquity (ψ = 104°), based on the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and an analysis of starspot-crossing events. This result is valuable because almost all previous obliquity measurements are for stars with more massive planets and shorter-period orbits. In addition, the polar orbit of the planet combined with an analysis of spot-crossing events reveals a large and persistent polar starspot. Such spots have previously been inferred using Doppler tomography, and predicted in simulations of magnetic activity of young Sun-like stars. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

Since 2014, NASA's K2 mission has observed large portions of the ecliptic plane in search of transiting planets and has detected hundreds of planet candidates. With observations planned until at least early 2018, K2 will continue to identify more planet candidates. We present here 275 planet candidates observed during Campaigns 0-10 of the K2 mission that are orbiting stars brighter than 13 mag (in Kepler band) and for which we have obtained high-resolution spectra (R = 44,000). These candidates are analyzed using the vespa package in order to calculate their false-positive probabilities (FPP). We find that 149 candidates are validated with an FPP lower than 0.1%, 39 of which were previously only candidates and 56 of which were previously undetected. The processes of data reduction, candidate identification, and statistical validation are described, and the demographics of the candidates and newly validated planets are explored. We show tentative evidence of a gap in the planet radius distribution of our candidate sample. Comparing our sample to the Kepler candidate sample investigated by Fulton et al., we conclude that more planets are required to quantitatively confirm the gap with K2 candidates or validated planets. This work, in addition to increasing the population of validated K2 planets by nearly 50% and providing new targets for follow-up observations, will also serve as a framework for validating candidates from upcoming K2 campaigns and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, expected to launch in 2018. © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

We report the discovery by the ground-based Hungarian-made Automated Telescope Network (HATNet) survey of the transiting exoplanet HAT-P-68b, which has a mass of 0.724 ± 0.043 MJ, and radius of 1.072 ± 0.012 RJ. The planet is in a circular P = 2.2984 day orbit around a moderately bright V = 13.937 ± 0.030 magnitude K-dwarf star of mass ${0.673}_{-0.014}^{+0.020}$ M⊙, and radius 0.6726 ± 0.0069 R⊙. The planetary nature of this system is confirmed through follow-up transit photometry obtained with the Fred L. Whipple Observatory (FLWO) 1.2 m telescope, high-precision radial velocities measured using Keck I/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES), FLWO 1.5 m/Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph (TRES), and Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP) 1.9 m/Sophie, and high-spatial-resolution speckle imaging from WIYN 3.5 m/DSSI. HAT-P-68 is at an ecliptic latitude of +3° and outside the field of view of both the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite primary mission and the K2 mission. The large transit depth of 0.036 mag (r band) makes HAT-P-68b a promising target for atmospheric characterization via transmission spectroscopy.

We present an investigation of 12 candidate transiting planets from Kepler with orbital periods ranging from 34 to 207 days, selected from initial indications that they are small and potentially in the habitable zone (HZ) of their parent stars. Few of these objects are known. The expected Doppler signals are too small to confirm them by demonstrating that their masses are in the planetary regime. Here we verify their planetary nature by validating them statistically using the BLENDER technique, which simulates large numbers of false positives and compares the resulting light curves with the Kepler photometry. This analysis was supplemented with new follow-up observations (high-resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy, adaptive optics imaging, and speckle interferometry), as well as an analysis of the flux centroids. For 11 of them (KOI-0571.05, 1422.04, 1422.05, 2529.02, 3255.01, 3284.01, 4005.01, 4087.01, 4622.01, 4742.01, and 4745.01) we show that the likelihood they are true planets is far greater than that of a false positive, to a confidence level of 99.73% (3σ) or higher. For KOI-4427.01 the confidence level is about 99.2% (2.6σ). With our accurate characterization of the GKM host stars, the derived planetary radii range from 1.1 to 2.7 R ⊕. All 12 objects are confirmed to be in the HZ, and nine are small enough to be rocky. Excluding three of them that have been previously validated by others, our study doubles the number of known rocky planets in the HZ. KOI-3284.01 (Kepler-438b) and KOI-4742.01 (Kepler-442b) are the planets most similar to the Earth discovered to date when considering their size and incident flux jointly. © 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

We report the discovery and characterization of seven transiting exoplanets from the HATNet survey. The planets, which are hot Jupiters and Saturns transiting bright Sun-like stars, include: HAT-P-58b (with mass M p = 0.37 M J, radius R p = 1.33 R J, and orbital period P = 4.0138 days), HAT-P-59b (M p = 1.54 M J, R p = 1.12 R J, P = 4.1420 days), HAT-P-60b (M p = 0.57 M J, R p = 1.63 R J, P = 4.7948 days), HAT-P-61b (M p = 1.06 M J, R p = 0.90 R J, P = 1.9023 days), HAT-P-62b (M p = 0.76 M J, R p = 1.07 R J, P = 2.6453 days), HAT-P-63b (M p = 0.61 M J, R p = 1.12 R J, P = 3.3777 days), and HAT-P-64b (M p = 0.58 M J, R p = 1.70 R J, P = 4.0072 days). The typical errors on these quantities are 0.06 M J, 0.03 R J, and 0.2 s, respectively. We also provide accurate stellar parameters for each of the host stars. With V = 9.710 0.050 mag, HAT-P-60 is an especially bright transiting planet host, and an excellent target for additional follow-up observations. With R p = 1.703 0.070 R J, HAT-P-64b is a highly inflated hot Jupiter around a star nearing the end of its main-sequence lifetime, and is among the largest known planets. Five of the seven systems have long-cadence observations by TESS which are included in the analysis. Of particular note is HAT-P-59 (TOI-1826.01) which is within the northern continuous viewing zone of the TESS mission, and HAT-P-60, which is the TESS candidate TOI-1580.01. © 2021. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

Open clusters have been the focus of several exoplanet surveys, but only a few planets have so far been discovered. The Kepler spacecraft revealed an abundance of small planets around small cool stars, therefore, such cluster members are prime targets for exoplanet transit searches. Kepler's new mission, K2, is targeting several open clusters and star-forming regions around the ecliptic to search for transiting planets around their low-mass constituents. Here, we report the discovery of the first transiting planet in the intermediate-age (800 Myr) Beehive cluster (Praesepe). K2-95 is a faint (Kp = 15.5 mag) dwarf from K2's Campaign 5 with an effective temperature of 3471 ±124 K, approximately solar metallicity and a radius of 0.402± 0.050.R⊕ We detected a transiting planet with a radius of3.47+0.78 -0.53R⊕ and an orbital period of 10.134 days. We combined photometry, medium/high-resolution spectroscopy, adaptive optics/speckle imaging, and archival survey images to rule out any false-positive detection scenarios, validate the planet, and further characterize the system. The planet's radius is very unusual as M-dwarf field stars rarely have Neptune-sized transiting planets. The comparatively large radius of K2-95b is consistent with the other recently discovered cluster planets K2-25b (Hyades) and K2-33b (Upper Scorpius), indicating systematic differences in their evolutionary states or formation. These discoveries from K2 provide a snapshot of planet formation and evolution in cluster environments and thus make excellent laboratories to test differences between field-star and cluster planet populations. © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

We present 197 planet candidates discovered using data from the first year of the NASA K2 mission (Campaigns 0-4), along with the results of an intensive program of photometric analyses, stellar spectroscopy, high-resolution imaging, and statistical validation. We distill these candidates into sets of 104 validated planets (57 in multi-planet systems), false positives, and 63 remaining candidates. Our validated systems span a range of properties, with median values of RP= 2.3 R⊕, P = 8.6 days, Teff = 5300 K, and Kp = 12.7mag. Stellar spectroscopy provides precise stellar and planetary parameters for most of these systems. We show that K2 has increased by 30% the number of small planets known to orbit moderately bright stars (1-4 R R⊕, Kp = 9-13 mag). Of particular interest are planets smaller than 2 R⊕, orbiting stars brighter than Kp = 11.5 mag, 5 receiving Earth-like irradiation levels, and several multi-planet systems - including 4 planets orbiting the M dwarf K2-72 near mean-motion resonances. By quantifying the likelihood that each candidate is a planet we demonstrate that our candidate sample has an overall false positive rate of 15%-30%, with rates substantially lower for small candidates (&lt;2R⊕) and larger for candidates with radii &gt;8 R⊕ and/or with P&lt;3 days. Extrapolation of the current planetary yield suggests that K2 will discover between 500 and 1000 planets in its planned four-year mission, assuming sufficient follow-up resources are available. Efficient observing and analysis, together with an organized and coherent follow-up strategy, are essential for maximizing the efficacy of planet-validation efforts for K2, TESS, and future large-scale surveys. © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

We report the detection of three transiting planets around a Sun-like star, which we designate Kepler-18. The transit signals were detected in photometric data from the Kepler satellite, and were confirmed to arise from planets using a combination of large transit-timing variations (TTVs), radial velocity variations, Warm-Spitzer observations, and statistical analysis of false-positive probabilities. The Kepler-18 star has a mass of 0.97 M ⊙, a radius of 1.1 R ⊙, an effective temperature of 5345K, and an iron abundance of [Fe/H] = +0.19. The planets have orbital periods of approximately 3.5, 7.6, and 14.9 days. The innermost planet "b" is a "super-Earth" with a mass of 6.9 ± 3.4 M ⊕, a radius of 2.00 ± 0.10 R ⊕, and a mean density of 4.9 ± 2.4gcm3. The two outer planets "c" and "d" are both low-density Neptune-mass planets. Kepler-18c has a mass of 17.3 ± 1.9 M ⊕, a radius of 5.49 ± 0.26 R ⊕, and a mean density of 0.59 0.07gcm 3, while Kepler-18d has a mass of 16.4 ± 1.4 M ⊕, a radius of 6.98 ± 0.33 R ⊕ and a mean density of 0.27 ± 0.03gcm3. Kepler-18c and Kepler-18d have orbital periods near a 2:1 mean-motion resonance, leading to large and readily detected TTVs. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

In the spring of 2009, the Kepler Mission commenced high-precision photometry on nearly 156,000 stars to determine the frequency and characteristics of small exoplanets, conduct a guest observer program, and obtain asteroseismic data on a wide variety of stars. On 2010 June 15, the Kepler Mission released most of the data from the first quarter of observations. At the time of this data release, 705 stars from this first data set have exoplanet candidates with sizes from as small as that of Earth to larger than that of Jupiter. Here we give the identity and characteristics of 305 released stars with planetary candidates. Data for the remaining 400 stars with planetary candidates will be released in 2011 February. More than half the candidates on the released list have radii less than half that of Jupiter. Five candidates are present in and near the habitable zone; two near super-Earth size, and three bracketing the size of Jupiter. The released stars also include five possible multi-planet systems. One of these has two Neptune-size (2.3 and 2.5 Earth radius) candidates with near-resonant periods. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society.

On 2011 February 1 the Kepler mission released data for 156,453 stars observed from the beginning of the science observations on 2009 May 2 through September 16. There are 1235 planetary candidates with transit-like signatures detected in this period. These are associated with 997 host stars. Distributions of the characteristics of the planetary candidates are separated into five class sizes: 68 candidates of approximately Earth-size (Rp &lt; 1.25 R⊕), 288 super-Earth-size (1.25 R⊕ ≤ R p &lt; 2 R⊕), 662 Neptune-size (2 R ⊕ ≤ Rp &lt; 6 R⊕), 165 Jupiter-size (6 R⊕ ≤ Rp &lt; 15 R ⊕), and 19 up to twice the size of Jupiter (15 R ⊕ ≤ Rp &lt; 22 R⊕). In the temperature range appropriate for the habitable zone, 54 candidates are found with sizes ranging from Earth-size to larger than that of Jupiter. Six are less than twice the size of the Earth. Over 74% of the planetary candidates are smaller than Neptune. The observed number versus size distribution of planetary candidates increases to a peak at two to three times the Earth-size and then declines inversely proportional to the area of the candidate. Our current best estimates of the intrinsic frequencies of planetary candidates, after correcting for geometric and sensitivity biases, are 5% for Earth-size candidates, 8% for super-Earth-size candidates, 18% for Neptune-size candidates, 2% for Jupiter-size candidates, and 0.1% for very large candidates; a total of 0.34 candidates per star. Multi-candidate, transiting systems are frequent; 17% of the host stars have multi-candidate systems, and 34% of all the candidates are part of multi-candidate systems. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

A search of the time-series photometry from NASA's Kepler spacecraft reveals a transiting planet candidate orbiting the 11th magnitude G5 dwarf KIC 10593626 with a period of 290 days. The characteristics of the host star are well constrained by high-resolution spectroscopy combined with an asteroseismic analysis of the Kepler photometry, leading to an estimated mass and radius of 0.970 0.060 M and 0.979 0.020 R. The depth of 492 10 ppm for the three observed transits yields a radius of 2.38 0.13 Re for the planet. The system passes a battery of tests for false positives, including reconnaissance spectroscopy, high-resolution imaging, and centroid motion. A full BLENDER analysis provides further validation of the planet interpretation by showing that contamination of the target by an eclipsing system would rarely mimic the observed shape of the transits. The final validation of the planet is provided by 16 radial velocities (RVs) obtained with the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer on Keck I over a one-year span. Although the velocities do not lead to a reliable orbit and mass determination, they are able to constrain the mass to a 3σ upper limit of 124 M ⊕, safely in the regime of planetary masses, thus earning the designation Kepler-22b. The radiative equilibrium temperature is 262 K for a planet in Kepler-22b's orbit. Although there is no evidence that Kepler-22b is a rocky planet, it is the first confirmed planet with a measured radius to orbit in the habitable zone of any star other than the Sun. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.