Kepler-62

system

Kepler-62 — an orange K-dwarf ~980 light-years away in Lyra, with FIVE planets — and TWO of them, e and f, orbit in the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist. A rare system with a pair of potentially temperate worlds. Descend to explore them.

Open in 3D viewSee Kepler-62 in the live, interactive 3D map

Science

Classification

Type: Planetary system
Distance: ~981 light-years · its real distance from the Sun
Explore: Descend to see the star and its confirmed planets

How we know

Note: A real star system, shown at its measured position in the galaxy. Its star and confirmed planets — their measured sizes and how each was found — are on the cards inside; descend to explore them. Distances follow Gaia parallax; planet data follow the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Discovery & history

Name: A designation from NASA's Kepler mission (also KOI-701); the star has no proper name.

NASA's Kepler telescope confirmed five transiting planets here in 2013. The outer two, Kepler-62 e and f, are super-Earths sitting in the star's habitable zone — among the first such worlds found — and may be rocky or even water-covered. Their sizes are measured; their masses are not well constrained.

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

Images from open archives · credit shown per image