Kepler - 69b

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hello! heres a little work of a recently discovered exoplanet. the planet is kepler - 69b and is in the same system as the possibly habitable world kepler - 69c which i did a few days ago. yay! now the whole family's together! also, if you're wondering about those lights on the nightside of the planet, its supposed to be lightning flashes.

i recommend downloading 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 - 69b


constellation: ................... Cygnus
distance from earth: ......... 2,700 ly
star's name: ..................... Kepler - 69
star's type: ....................... G (main sequence)
star's mass: ...................... 0.81 solar masses
star's radius: ..................... 0.93 solar radii
system's name: ................. Kepler - 69
# planets in system: .......... 2
system's age: ................... 4.0 billion years

planet's status: ................ confirmed
planet's name: ................. Kepler - 69b
planetary class: ................ super earth or gas giant
planetary sub-class: .......... may be a mini-neptune if it is a gas giant
habitable class: ................ non habitable
planet's radius: ................ 2.24 earth radii
planet's mass: .................. 11.24 earth masses assuming a density the same as earths (likely to be lower).
planet's density: ............... unknown, likely to be lower than earth's density and closer to that of neptune.
rotation period: ................. tidally locked
atm. comp.: ..................... hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia, other gasses
atm. density: .................... likely to be extremely dense
average surface temp: ....... 780°C (is likely to be much hotter, > 1000°C).
satellites: ......................... 0

orbital eccentricity: ............ 0.16 (may be lower or higher)
orbital distance: ................ 0.094 au
year: ................................ 13.7 earth days
place in system: ................ very close to star


Description

kepler - 69b is an exoplanet, 2,700 ly away from earth orbiting the sun-like star kepler - 69, in the constellation of cygnus the swan. it was dicovered in april 2013 by the kelper spacecraft which detects planets using the transit method. the planet is part of a 2 planet system where the planet itself, is likely to be a super earth or mini-neptune type world orbiting very close in to the star. the planet is more likely to favour a mini-neptune type world and so would be composed mainly of volatiles such as hydrogen and helium. this means that the planet's density would be closer to that of neptune, but due to its size, the planet would still have a high proportion of rock to volatiles and so would have a density higher than that of neptune's.

assuming a density the same as earth's of 5.515 g/cm³, the planet would have a mass equal to 11.24 earth masses.
assuming a density the same as neptune's of 1.638 g/cm³, the planet would have a mass equal to 3.34 earth masses.
the planet's density is likely to lie between that of neptune's and earth's and so it's mass is likely to lie between 3.34 and 11.24 earth masses.
if the planet has a density closer to that of earth's, the planet may be a 'super-venus', or simply put, a larger version of the planet venus in our solar system.

the planet orbits the star every 13.7 earth days at a distance of 0.094 au. because of its proximity to the star, the planet is most likely tidally locked and so, presents the same face to the star throughout the planet's orbit. this means that one side of the planet would have an eternal day while the other side would have an eternal night. this would create a hot spot on the planet's day side which will force the atmosphere to the nightside and generate ferocious winds in doing so. also, because of the planet's proximity to the star, the planet will be very hot with an average temperture likely to be around 1000°C, hot enough to melt rock. this high temperature will also heat up the planet's atmosphere and give the planet a 'puffy' appearance. this would also cause the planet to appear to have a higher density and mass, where in fact, both the planet's density and mass would be lower than what it appears to be.

the planet should not have moons simply because of 2 reasons:
- the planet does not rotate and so, any moons orbiting the planet would experience orbital decay and crash into the planet due to tidal deceleration.
- the planet orbits too close to the star and so the star's immense gravity would disrupt the orbit of any moon around the planet and cause that moon to crash or be flung away from the planet.

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