Kepler-62e

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why hello there my fellow viewers! i'm come bearing a gift that shall surely make thee happy! its a 'little' rendition of the exoplanet, kepler - 62e and it is the most habitable exoplanet discovered as of april 2013, surpassing the famous gliese-581g detected back in 2010. it is also now my favourite habitable exoplanet out there! and i really think i did the planet justice with this rendition. i spent 12-18 hours working on this one over a coarse of 3 days. roughly 200 layers and a 2 gb psd file. definetly the largest file i ever worked with despite the resolution. most of the time was spent working on the planet itself. i love the angle and just went all out with the image. i added the other planets in the system as well as an ever so faint asteroid belt. in this system, you would be able to easily distinguish the other planet's in the system from the sky of any of the planets. also, i did the same thing i did with gliese-581g and added a civilisation to the planet, only this time, they're not that advanced. i kinda like it as it adds to the planet's importance.
i would love to get you guy's opinion on how this came out and you have to admit that its the most realistic of all the planet's i've created!

i recommend downloadng to see all detail. also, large file size, sorry if it takes long.


so enjoy the image! and remember that comments and critques and favs are welcome and appreciated!
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Kepler - 62e

constellation: ................... Lyra
distance from earth: .......... 1,200 ly
star's name: ..................... Kepler - 62
star's type: ....................... K
star's mass: ...................... 0.69 solar masses
star's radius: ..................... 0.64 solar radii
system's name: ................. Kepler - 62
# planets in system: .......... 5
system's age: ................... 7.00 (+/- 4.00) billion years.

planet's status: ................ confirmed
planet's name: ................. Kepler - 62e
planetary class: ................ super earth
planetary sub-class: .......... possible ocean planet or water world.
habitable class: ................ mesoplanet
earth similarity index: ....... 0.82

planet's radius: ................ 1.61 earth radii.
planet's mass: .................. 4.17 earth masses assuming a density the same as earths.
planet's density: ............... unknown, but it is not likely to be higher than earth's density of 5.515 g/cm³.
surface gravity: ................ 1.61 earth gravity assuming a density the same as earth's.
planetary hill radius: ......... 114.00 times the planet's radius assuming a near circular orbit.
planetary roche limit: ......... 1.49 times the planet's radius assuming a planetary and satelite density the same as earth and its moon, respectively.
rotation period: ................. unlikely to be tidally locked.
atm. comp.: ..................... likely to be; nitrogen, oxygen, water vapour, other gasses.
atm. density: .................... probably slightly denser than earth's, not likely to be very dense.
average surface temp: ....... 31°C (may be cooler if the planet is covered by water clouds).
satellites: ......................... 2 (hypothetical)

orbital eccentricity: ............ unknown (but likely to be lower than 0.15).
orbital distance: ................ 0.43 au
year: ................................ 122.40 earth days
place in system: ................ inner edge of habitable zone


Description

kepler-62e is one of five planets orbiting the K-type star kepler-62, approximately 1,200 light years away from earth in the constellation of lyra. it was discovered by the kepler space observatory, which detects planets around other stars by measuring the dip in the star's light as the planet passes in front of the star as seen from earth. as of april 2013, it is the most potentially habitable exoplanet ever discovered, surpassing even the famous gliese-581g. the planet is the fourth planet from the star and has a radius of 1.61 earth radii making it one of the smallest planet's discovered in the habitable zone of another star.

current models of the planet indicates that it is likely to be a water world. because of the planet's size, the oceans may only be about a dozen kilometers deep at most. it is likely that the planet has an atmosphere that is somewhat denser than earth's. this would cause more heat to be trapped near the planet's surface warming up the oceans. this in turn would cause more intense and violent storms to generated acting as a hinderance to life that evolves on any land protruding from the oceans. the life would have to evolve with tougher exteriors in order to overcome this. there is also the possibility that there is a substantial amount of water clouds in the planet's atmosphere that can reflect alot of the star's light back into space, keeping the planet's surface at a more comfortable temperature for life.

because of the planet's size and distance from the star, it is not likely that the planet is tidally locked. thus it is highly possible that the planet has a day-night cycle which further increases the chances for life on this world. it is also unlikely that the planet would have a high orbital eccentricity or one that exceeds 0.15. even if the eccentricity is near such a value, the planet's oceans would act as a buffer and effectively circulate the heat around the planet, thus keeping the global temperature fairly constant.

assuming a density the same as earth's, the planet would have a mass of 4.17 earth masses, a surface gravity of 1.61 earth gravity and a hill sphere that is 114.00 times the planet's radius. still assuming the planet's density is the same as earth's, any moons with an assumed density the same as our moon, orbiting the planet would have to orbit above the planet's roche limit of 1.49 planetary radii. this means that in order for a moon to a have a stable orbit around this planet, it would have to orbit between 1.49 and 114.00 times the planet's radius, assuming the above densities. here the planet is displayed with two hypothetical moons, each of which have a density rouhgly the same as earth's moon. however, there is a high possibility that any moons orbiting the planet would have a density slightly lower than that of our moon. so, assuming a moon density equal to that of water and a planetary density the same as earth's, the roche limit for such a moon around the planet would be 2.23 times the planet's radius. if indeed the planet has a moon or a few, it would further increase the planet's habitability as the moons would stabilise the planet's tilt and weather patterns.

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This Artwork is ­­© 2013 Alpha-Element. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.