Kepler-10c

Database links to Kepler-10c

Exoplanet Kepler-10c
Constellation	Dragon
Position equinox : J2000.0
Right ascension	19h 02m 43.061s
declination	+ 50 ° 14 ′ 28.701 ″
Orbit data
Central star	Kepler-10
Major semi-axis	0.241 ± 0.01 AU
eccentricity	0.05 ^+0.20_−0.05
Period of circulation	45.3 ± 0.01 d
Further data
radius	2.4 ± 0.1 R _E
Dimensions	7.4 ^+1.3_−1.2 M _E
distance	186.5 ± 0.8 pc
history
discovery	Kepler Mission
Date of discovery	2011

Kepler-10c is an exoplanet and orbits Kepler-10 in the constellation Dragon in the northern sky. It was discovered in 2011 with the help of the Kepler space telescope. With a mass of around 17 earth masses and a radius of slightly more than 2 earth radii, the object would have a density of around 7 g / cm ³ . This would make Kepler-10c a first strong indication of a previously unknown class of massive, high-density exoplanets. However, the determination of the mass is questioned by recent work, which is why the high density is currently controversial.

Circulation and mass

Kepler-10c orbits its central star Kepler-10, which is 610 light years away from our solar system, about every 45 days. In the same system is also Kepler-10b , the first rock planet to be detected outside of our solar system .

Discovery and Classification

The significantly higher mass than would have been expected based on the previous discoveries of exoplanets of similar diameter was determined using the radial velocity method. With the precision spectrograph HARPS-North of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo , the mass of the planet could be estimated. In view of its mean density of 7.1 ± 1.0 g / cm³ (for comparison: earth : 5.515 g / cm³) resulting from its radius and mass, it would have to be assumed that Kepler-10c consists mostly of rock and other dense materials. The planet would be so massive that it could have held an atmosphere - if there ever was one - permanently. The determination of the mass is questioned by recent work, which is why the density is currently controversial.

New class of planets?

Since the exoplanet was assessed to be significantly more massive and larger than previously discovered super-earths , it was presented by its discoverers as a prototype for the new class of planets called mega-earth : “We were very surprised when we realized what we were there discovered exactly, ”said Xavier Dumusque of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , who led the analysis of the data and discovered the planet. The find was presented on June 1, 2014 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society .

Age

The Kepler-10 system is about eleven billion years old, so it was created less than three billion years after the Big Bang. Therefore, rocky planets could have appeared much earlier in the history of the universe than previously assumed: "If rock can arise, life can also arise." Accordingly, astronomers assume that the discovery of such an old rocky planet will have far-reaching consequences for the assessment the probability of life in the universe will have.

Web links

Commons : Kepler-10c - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ KOI-72.02. In: SIMBAD . Center de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg , accessed on March 22, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b Kepler-10 c. In: Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia . Retrieved March 22, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Kepler-10. In: NASA Exoplanet Archive . Retrieved March 22, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Dumusque et al .: "The Kepler-10 planetary system revisited by HARPS-N: A hot rocky world and a solid Neptune-mass planet" (2014, arxiv : 1405.7881 )
^ Kepler-10c and a New Method to Validate Planets. kepler.nasa.gov, May 23, 2011, accessed June 4, 2014 .
↑ Fressin et al .: "Kepler-10c, a 2.2-Earth radius transiting planet in a multiple system" (2011, arxiv : 1105.4647 )
↑ ^a ^b V. Rajpaul: pinning down the mass of Kepler-10c: the importance of sampling and model comparison . In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 471, No. 1, July 2017, pp. L25-L130. arxiv : 1707.06192 . bibcode : 2017MNRAS.471L.125R . doi : 10.1093 / mnrasl / slx116 .
↑ Astronomers discover the first mega-earth. Scinexx , June 3, 2014, accessed January 24, 2016 .

[SIMBAD-1] KOI-72.02. In: SIMBAD . Center de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg , accessed on March 22, 2020 .

[EPE-2] Kepler-10 c. In: Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia . Retrieved March 22, 2020 .

[Nasa-3] Kepler-10. In: NASA Exoplanet Archive . Retrieved March 22, 2020 .

[Dumusque2014-4] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Dumusque et al .: "The Kepler-10 planetary system revisited by HARPS-N: A hot rocky world and a solid Neptune-mass planet" (2014, arxiv : 1405.7881 )

[5] Kepler-10c and a New Method to Validate Planets. kepler.nasa.gov, May 23, 2011, accessed June 4, 2014 .

[6] Fressin et al .: "Kepler-10c, a 2.2-Earth radius transiting planet in a multiple system" (2011, arxiv : 1105.4647 )

[Rajpaul2017-7] V. Rajpaul: pinning down the mass of Kepler-10c: the importance of sampling and model comparison . In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 471, No. 1, July 2017, pp. L25-L130. arxiv : 1707.06192 . bibcode : 2017MNRAS.471L.125R . doi : 10.1093 / mnrasl / slx116 .

[8] Astronomers discover the first mega-earth. Scinexx , June 3, 2014, accessed January 24, 2016 .