Kepler-1520

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Kepler-1520
Observation data
Epoch J2000       Equinox J2000
Constellation Cygnus
Right ascension 19h 23m 51.8899s [1]
Declination +51° 30′ 16.98″ [1]
Apparent magnitude  (V)16.7 [2]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage Main sequence
Spectral type K4V [3]
Apparent magnitude  (V)16.7 [2]
Apparent magnitude  (J)14.021±0.035 [4]
Apparent magnitude  (H)13.433±0.035 [4]
Apparent magnitude  (K)13.319±0.035 [4]
Astrometry
Proper motion (μ)RA: 0.321±0.065 [1]   mas/yr
Dec.: 11.146±0.055 [1]   mas/yr
Parallax (π)1.6167 ± 0.0302  mas [1]
Distance 2,020 ± 40  ly
(620 ± 10  pc)
Absolute magnitude  (MV)7.6 [2]
Details
Mass 0.76 ± 0.03 [5]   M☉
Radius 0.71 ± 0.026 [5]   R☉
Luminosity 0.14 [2]   L☉
Surface gravity (log g)4.610+0.018
−0.031 [5]   cgs
Temperature 4677+82
−71 [5]   K
Metallicity [Fe/H]0.04 ± 0.15 [5]   dex
Rotation 22.91±0.24 d [6]
Age 4.47 [5]   Gyr
Other designations
Gaia DR2  2136216647412563840, KIC  12557548, 2MASS J19235189+5130170 [7]
Database references
SIMBAD data
KIC data

Kepler-1520 (initially published as KIC 12557548) is a K-type main-sequence star located in the constellation Cygnus. The star is particularly important, as measurements taken by the Kepler spacecraft indicate that the variations in the star's light curve cover a range from about 0.2% to 1.3% of the star's light being blocked. [2] This indicates that there may be a rapidly disintegrating planet, a prediction not yet conclusively confirmed, in orbit around the star, losing mass at a rate of 1 Earth mass every billion years. [2] The planet itself is about 0.1 Earth masses, [8] or just twice the mass of Mercury, and is expected to disintegrate in about 100 [8] -200 million years. [2] The planet orbits its star in just 15.7 hours, [2] at a distance only two stellar diameters away from the star's surface, [9] and has an estimated effective temperature of about 2255 K. [8] The orbital period of the planet is one of the shortest ever detected in the history of the extrasolar planet search. [10] In 2016, the planet was confirmed as part of a data release by the Kepler spacecraft.

Contents

Nomenclature and history

Prior to Kepler observation, Kepler-1520 had the 2MASS catalogue number 2MASS J19235189+5130170. In the Kepler Input Catalog it has the designation of KIC 12557548, and when it was found to have transiting planet candidates it was given the Kepler object of interest number of KOI-3794.

The star's planetary companion were discovered by NASA's Kepler Mission, a mission tasked with discovering planets in transit around their stars. The transit method that Kepler uses involves detecting dips in brightness in stars. These dips in brightness can be interpreted as planets whose orbits move in front of their stars from the perspective of Earth. The name Kepler-1520 derives directly from the fact that the star is the catalogued 1,520th star discovered by Kepler to have confirmed planets.

The designation b, derive from the order of discovery. The designation of b is given to the first planet orbiting a given star, followed by the other lowercase letters of the alphabet. [11] In the case of Kepler-1520, there was only one planet detected, so only the letter b is used.

Stellar characteristics

Kepler-1520 is a K-type star that is approximately 76% the mass of and 71% the radius of the Sun. It has a surface temperature of 4677 K and is about 4.47 billion years old. [5] In comparison, the Sun is about 4.6 billion years old [12] and has a surface temperature of 5778 K. [13]

The star's apparent magnitude, or how bright it appears from Earth's perspective, is 15. Therefore, it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye.

Planetary system

The Kepler-1520 planetary system [2] [14] [15]
Companion
(in order from star)		 Mass Semimajor axis
(AU)		 Orbital period
(days)		 Eccentricity Inclination Radius
b <0.02  M🜨 0.013 (1208425.494 miles)0.6535538±0.0000001~0—<1  R🜨

The planetary system of Kepler-1520 consists of one extrasolar planet, named Kepler-1520b. This planet may possess a tail of dust and gas formed in a similar fashion to that of a comet [9] but, as opposed to the tail of a comet, containing molecules of pyroxene and aluminium(III) oxide. Based on the rate at which the particles in the tail are emitted, the mass of the planet has been constrained to less than 0.02 Earth masses — a higher-mass planet would have too much gravity to sustain the observed rate of mass loss. [14] [2]

Simulations show that the density of dust falls off rapidly with increasing distance from the planet. [2] Calculations conducted by Rappaport et al. show that the dust tail, in addition to absorbing light directly, may scatter some of the light which reaches it, contributing to a small apparent rise in stellar flux before the planet and its tail pass in front of the star, and a small apparent reduction in the stellar flux as the planet exits the plane of the stellar disk. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exoplanet</span> Planet outside the Solar System

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, initially detected in 1988, was confirmed in 2003. As of 1 February 2023, there are 5,307 confirmed exoplanets in 3,910 planetary systems, with 853 systems having more than one planet. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to discover more exoplanets, and also much more about exoplanets, including composition, environmental conditions and potential for life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exomoon</span> Moon beyond the Solar System

An exomoon or extrasolar moon is a natural satellite that orbits an exoplanet or other non-stellar extrasolar body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Methods of detecting exoplanets</span> Overview of methods of detecting exoplanets

Any planet is an extremely faint light source compared to its parent star. For example, a star like the Sun is about a billion times as bright as the reflected light from any of the planets orbiting it. In addition to the intrinsic difficulty of detecting such a faint light source, the light from the parent star causes a glare that washes it out. For those reasons, very few of the exoplanets reported as of April 2014 have been observed directly, with even fewer being resolved from their host star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GSC 03549-02811</span> Main sequence - star in the constellation Draco

GSC 03549-02811, also known as Kepler-1) is a yellow main-sequence star similar to the Sun. This star is located approximately 704 light-years away in the constellation of Draco. The apparent magnitude of this star is 11.41, which means it is not visible to the naked eye but can be seen with a medium-sized amateur telescope on a clear dark night. The age of this star is about 5 billion years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discoveries of exoplanets</span> Detecting planets located outside the Solar System

An exoplanet is a planet located outside the Solar System. The first evidence of an exoplanet was noted as early as 1917, but was not recognized as such until 2016; no planet discovery has yet come from that evidence. What turned out to be the first detection of an exoplanet was published among a list of possible candidates in 1988, though not confirmed until 2003. The first confirmed detection came in 1992, with the discovery of terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. The first confirmation of an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star was made in 1995, when a giant planet was found in a four-day orbit around the nearby star 51 Pegasi. Some exoplanets have been imaged directly by telescopes, but the vast majority have been detected through indirect methods, such as the transit method and the radial-velocity method. As of 1 February 2023, there are 5,307 confirmed exoplanets in 3,910 planetary systems, with 853 systems having more than one planet. This is a list of the most notable discoveries.

Kepler-20 is a star 929 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra with a system of six known planets. The apparent magnitude of this star is 12.51, so it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. Viewing it requires a telescope with an aperture of 15 cm (6 in) or more. It is slightly smaller than the Sun, with 94% of the Sun's radius and about 91% of the Sun's mass. The effective temperature of the photosphere is slightly cooler than that of the Sun at 5466 K, giving it the characteristic yellow hue of a stellar class G8 star. The abundance of elements other than hydrogen or helium, what astronomers term the metallicity, is approximately the same as in the Sun. It may be older than the Sun, although the margin of error here is relatively large.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-70b</span> Postulated planet orbiting the star Kepler 70

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-69</span> Star in the constellation Cygnus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sub-Earth</span> Planet smaller than Earth

A sub-Earth is a planet "substantially less massive" than Earth and Venus. In the Solar System, this category includes Mercury and Mars. Sub-Earth exoplanets are among the most difficult type to detect because their small sizes and masses produce the weakest signal. Despite the difficulty, one of the first exoplanets found was a sub-Earth around a millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12. The smallest known is WD 1145+017 b with a size of 0.15 Earth radii, or somewhat smaller than Pluto. However, WD 1145+017 b is not massive enough to qualify as a sub-Earth classical planet and is instead defined as a minor, or dwarf, planet. It is orbiting within a thick cloud of dust and gas as chunks of itself continually break off to then spiral in towards the star, and within around 5,000 years it will have more-or-less disintegrated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-90</span> Star in the constellation Draco, orbited by eight planets

Kepler-90, also designated 2MASS J18574403+4918185, is an F-type star located about 2,790 light-years (855 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Draco. It is notable for possessing a planetary system that has the same number of observed planets as the Solar System.

Kepler-61 is a K-type main-sequence star approximately 1,100 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It is located within the field of vision of the Kepler spacecraft, the satellite that NASA's Kepler Mission used to detect planets that may be transiting their stars. On April 24, 2013 it was announced that the star has an extrasolar planet orbiting in the inner edge of the habitable zone, named Kepler-61b.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-138</span> Red dwarf in the constellation Lyra

Kepler-138, also known as KOI-314, is a red dwarf located in the constellation Lyra, 219 light years from Earth. It is located within the field of vision of the Kepler spacecraft, the satellite that NASA's Kepler Mission used to detect planets transiting their stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-186</span> Star in the constellation Cygnus

Kepler-186 is a main-sequence M1-type dwarf star, located 178.5 parsecs away in the constellation of Cygnus. The star is slightly cooler than the sun, with roughly half its metallicity. It is known to have five planets, including the first Earth-sized world discovered in the habitable zone: Kepler-186f. The star hosts four other planets discovered so far, though they all orbit interior to the habitable zone.

Kepler-444 is a triple star system, estimated to be 11.2 billion years old, approximately 119 light-years (36 pc) away from Earth in the constellation Lyra. On 27 January 2015, the Kepler spacecraft is reported to have confirmed the detection of five sub-Earth-sized rocky exoplanets orbiting the main star. The star is a K-type main sequence star. All of the planets are far too close to their star to harbour life forms.

Kepler-1229 is a red dwarf star located about 870 light-years (270 pc) away from the Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. It is known to host a super-Earth exoplanet within its habitable zone, Kepler-1229b, which was discovered in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-1520b</span> Exoplanet orbiting the star Kepler 1520

Kepler-1520b, is a confirmed exoplanet orbiting the K-type main sequence star Kepler-1520. It is located about 2,020 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. 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. The planet was previously proposed in 2012 when reports of its host star recorded drops in its luminosity varying from 0.2% to 1.3%, which indicated a possible planetary companion rapidly disintegrating. In 2015, the planetary nature of the cause of the dips was finally verified. It is expected to disintegrate in about 40–400 million years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disrupted planet</span> Planet or related being destroyed by a passing object

In astronomy, a disrupted planet is a planet or exoplanet or, perhaps on a somewhat smaller scale, a planetary-mass object, planetesimal, moon, exomoon or asteroid that has been disrupted or destroyed by a nearby or passing astronomical body or object such as a star. Necroplanetology is the related study of such a process. Nonetheless, the result of such a disruption may be the production of excessive amounts of related gas, dust and debris, which may eventually surround the parent star in the form of a circumstellar disk or debris disk. As a consequence, the orbiting debris field may be an "uneven ring of dust", causing erratic light fluctuations in the apparent luminosity of the parent star, as may have been responsible for the oddly flickering light curves associated with the starlight observed from certain variable stars, such as that from Tabby's Star, RZ Piscium and WD 1145+017. Excessive amounts of infrared radiation may be detected from such stars, suggestive evidence in itself that dust and debris may be orbiting the stars.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Brown, A. G. A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). "Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties". Astronomy & Astrophysics . 616. A1. arXiv: 1804.09365 . Bibcode: 2018A&A...616A...1G . doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201833051 . Gaia DR2 record for this source at VizieR.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rappaport, S.; et al. (2012). "Possible Disintegrating Short-Period Super-Mercury Orbiting KIC 12557548". The Astrophysical Journal. 752 (1). 1. arXiv: 1201.2662 . Bibcode: 2012ApJ...752....1R . doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/752/1/1 .
  3. ↑ "KIC 12557548 b". Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2016.Note: The EPE has not fully updated this data to be renamed Kepler-1520, but the spectral type is listed, hence this is the reference for it.
  4. 1 2 3 Skrutskie, Michael F.; Cutri, Roc M.; Stiening, Rae; Weinberg, Martin D.; Schneider, Stephen E.; Carpenter, John M.; Beichman, Charles A.; Capps, Richard W.; Chester, Thomas; Elias, Jonathan H.; Huchra, John P.; Liebert, James W.; Lonsdale, Carol J.; Monet, David G.; Price, Stephan; Seitzer, Patrick; Jarrett, Thomas H.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Gizis, John E.; Howard, Elizabeth V.; Evans, Tracey E.; Fowler, John W.; Fullmer, Linda; Hurt, Robert L.; Light, Robert M.; Kopan, Eugene L.; Marsh, Kenneth A.; McCallon, Howard L.; Tam, Robert; Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Wheelock, Sherry L. (1 February 2006). "The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)". The Astronomical Journal. 131 (2): 1163–1183. Bibcode:2006AJ....131.1163S. doi:10.1086/498708. ISSN   0004-6256. S2CID   18913331. Vizier catalog entry
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "NASA Exoplanet Archive". NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  6. ↑ Kawahara, Hajime; et al. (2013). "Starspots-Transit Depth Relation of the Evaporating Planet Candidate KIC 12557548b". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 776 (1). L6. arXiv: 1308.1585 . Bibcode: 2013ApJ...776L...6K . doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/776/1/L6 .
  7. ↑ "KOI-3794". SIMBAD . Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg . Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  8. 1 2 3 Ouellette, Jennifer (May 26, 2012). "Dust to Dust: The Death of an Exoplanet". Discovery News. Discovery Communications, LLC. Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  9. 1 2 Staff, Space.com (24 March 2012). "Possible Newfound Alien Planet is Falling to Pieces". Space.com . Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  10. ↑ "NASA's Kepler Detects Potential Evaporating Planet" (Press release). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. May 21, 2012. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  11. ↑ Hessman, F. V.; Dhillon, V. S.; Winget, D. E.; Schreiber, M. R.; Horne, K.; Marsh, T. R.; Guenther, E.; Schwope, A.; Heber, U. (2010). "On the naming convention used for multiple star systems and extrasolar planets". arXiv: 1012.0707 [astro-ph.SR].
  12. ↑ Fraser Cain (16 September 2008). "How Old is the Sun?". Universe Today . Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  13. ↑ Fraser Cain (15 September 2008). "Temperature of the Sun". Universe Today. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  14. 1 2 Perez-Becker, Daniel; Chiang, Eugene (2013). "Catastrophic evaporation of rocky planets". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 433 (3): 2294–2309. arXiv: 1302.2147 . Bibcode: 2013MNRAS.433.2294P . doi: 10.1093/mnras/stt895 .
  15. ↑ Van Werkhoven, T. I. M.; et al. (2014). "Analysis and interpretation of 15 quarters of Kepler data of the disintegrating planet KIC 12557548 b". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 561. A3. arXiv: 1311.5688 . Bibcode: 2014A&A...561A...3V . doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201322398 .
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