Kepler-442

system

Kepler-442 is an orange K-dwarf about 1,190 light-years away in Lyra, host to Kepler-442 b: a super-Earth in the habitable zone widely ranked among the most Earth-like planets yet found.

Open in 3D viewSee Kepler-442 in the live, interactive 3D map

Key facts

Type

Orange dwarf + HZ super-Earth

Distance

1,190 light-years

Confirmed planets

Why famous

One of the most Earth-like known

Science

Classification

Type: Single orange-dwarf (K) system
Central star: Kepler-442 — K-dwarf, ~4402 K, 0.61 M☉

Planets

Confirmed planets: 1 · Kepler-442 b, a habitable-zone super-Earth
Note: Among the highest Earth-similarity ratings known

Distance

Distance: 1,190 light-years · in Lyra, the Lyre

How we know

Note: One confirmed transiting planet (NASA Exoplanet Archive, checked 2026-07-07), so its size is measured; its mass is only size-estimated, so no density is quoted. Its high 'Earth-similarity' rating reflects its modest size and temperate orbit, not a measured surface — no one has seen it. Placed at its real position, 1,190 light-years away, still well inside the local arm.

Discovery & history

Name: A Kepler-mission catalogue designation (the 442nd planet-hosting star confirmed); the star has no proper name.

NASA's Kepler telescope confirmed Kepler-442 b in 2015. Its modest size and its orbit in the temperate zone of a mild orange dwarf give it one of the highest 'Earth-similarity' ratings of any known planet — a benchmark for what a habitable world beyond the Solar System might look like.

Images

NASA's comparison of Kepler's small habitable-zone planets — including Kepler-186 f and Kepler-442 b — with the Solar System (a NASA diagram). — NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

Where to find it — in Lyra, the Lyre (IAU constellation chart). To the eye it is a single point of light; no telescope has imaged its surface. — IAU / Sky & Telescope, R. Sinnott & R. Fienberg (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons

Images from open archives · credit shown per image