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Kepler 1229b
Kepler 1229b
Habitability
The exoplanet, along with eight others, was announced to be orbiting in the habitable zone of its parent star,
the region where, with the correct conditions and atmospheric properties, liquid water may exist on the
surface of the planet.[5] Kepler-1229b has a radius of 1.4 R🜨, so it is likely rocky. Its host star is a red
dwarf, with about half as much mass than the Sun does. As a result, stars like Kepler-1229 have the ability
to live up to 50–60 billion years, 5–6 times longer than the Sun will live.[8]
The planet is likely tidally locked, with one side of its hemisphere permanently facing towards the star,
while the opposite side shrouded in eternal darkness. However, between these two intense areas, there
would be a sliver of habitability – called the terminator line, where the temperatures may be suitable (about
273 K (0 °C; 32 °F)) for liquid water to exist. Additionally, a much larger portion of the planet may be
habitable if it supports a thick enough atmosphere to transfer heat to the side facing away from the star.
At nearly 770 light-years (236 pc) distant, Kepler-1229b is too remote and its star too far for current
telescopes or the next generation of planned telescopes to determine its mass or whether it has an
atmosphere. The Kepler spacecraft focused on a single small region of the sky but next-generation planet-
hunting space telescopes, such as TESS and CHEOPS, will examine nearby stars throughout the sky.
Nearby stars with planets can then be studied by the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope and future
large ground-based telescopes to analyze atmospheres, determine masses and infer compositions.
Additionally the Square Kilometer Array would significantly improve radio observations over the Arecibo
Observatory and Green Bank Telescope.[10]
See also
List of potentially habitable exoplanets
Kepler-62f – similar exoplanet with around the same radius and stellar flux.
Notes
1. Kepler's Third Law, assuming a circular orbit: Mass and the period are known, so
the equation can be written with semimajor axis as the subject: .
2. The 1.40 Earth radius was taken from a data set of confirmed Kepler planets, updated by
NASA in 10 May 2016 (http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/TblView/nph-tblVie
w?app=ExoTbls&config=planets). The Morton et al. 2016 (version 1) paper actually used an
older data set for Kepler candidate planets that, at the time, was only updated back in 18
September 2015 (http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/TblView/nph-tblView?app
=ExoTbls&config=cumulative&constraint=koi_pdisposition+like+%27CANDIDATE%27) but
that data set gave a different value of 1.12 Earth radius for the planet, along with different
mass, radius and temperature for the star.
References
1. Morton, Timothy D.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Coughlin, Jeffrey L.; Rowe, Jason F.; Ravichandran,
Ganesh; Petigura, Erik A.; Haas, Michael R.; Batalha, Natalie M (10 May 2016). "False
positive probabilities for all Kepler Objects of Interest: 1284 newly validated planets and 428
likely false positives" (https://doi.org/10.3847%2F0004-637X%2F822%2F2%2F86). The
Astrophysical Journal. 822 (2): 86. arXiv:1605.02825 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.02825).
Bibcode:2016ApJ...822...86M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016ApJ...822...86M).
doi:10.3847/0004-637X/822/2/86 (https://doi.org/10.3847%2F0004-637X%2F822%2F2%2F
86). S2CID 20832201 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:20832201).
2. "Kepler-1229 b" (http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/DisplayOverview/nph-Disp
layOverview?objname=Kepler-1229+b). NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. 10 May 2016.
Retrieved 2016-05-11.
3. "The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog - Planetary Habitability Laboratory @ UPR Arecibo" (htt
ps://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog). Retrieved 27 June 2016.
4. Prostak, Sergio (11 May 2016). "Astronomers Confirm 1,284 New Kepler Exoplanets" (http://
www.sci-news.com/astronomy/1284-new-kepler-exoplanets-03854.html). NASA. Sci News.
Retrieved 2016-05-11.
5. 1st Alien Earth Still Elusive Despite Huge Exoplanet Haul (http://www.space.com/32852-alie
n-earth-search-nasa-kepler-space-telescope.html), Mike Wall, Space.com
6. Fraser Cain (16 September 2008). "How Old is the Sun?" (http://www.universetoday.com/18
237/how-old-is-the-sun/). Universe Today. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
7. Fraser Cain (15 September 2008). "Temperature of the Sun" (http://www.universetoday.com/
18092/temperature-of-the-sun/). Universe Today. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
8. Adams, Fred C.; Laughlin, Gregory; Graves, Genevieve J. M. "Red Dwarfs and the End of
the Main Sequence". Gravitational Collapse: From Massive Stars to Planets. Revista
Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica. pp. 46–49. Bibcode:2004RMxAC..22...46A (https://ui.
adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004RMxAC..22...46A).
9. Northon, Karen (10 May 2016). "Kepler Mission Announces Largest Planet Collection Ever
Discovered" (http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasas-kepler-mission-announces-largest-c
ollection-of-planets-ever-discovered). Retrieved 27 June 2016.
10. Siemion, Andrew P.V.; Demorest, Paul; Korpela, Eric; Maddalena, Ron J.; Werthimer, Dan;
Cobb, Jeff; Langston, Glen; Lebofsky, Matt; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Tarter, Jill (3 February 2013).
"A 1.1 to 1.9 GHz SETI Survey of the Kepler Field: I. A Search for Narrow-band Emission
from Select Targets". Astrophysical Journal. 767 (1): 94. arXiv:1302.0845 (https://arxiv.org/ab
s/1302.0845). Bibcode:2013ApJ...767...94S (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...76
7...94S). doi:10.1088/0004-637X/767/1/94 (https://doi.org/10.1088%2F0004-637X%2F767%
2F1%2F94). S2CID 119302350 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:119302350).