The Best of Kepler's May 10th Planets

[ProtoJeb21]

On May 10th, NASA announced a staggering 1,284 planets discovered by Kepler, raising the about of know planets by over 25%. But the problem with a huge galaxy-load of planets is that the cool, unique, and amazing ones are hidden among the boring and typical Hot Jupiters/Neptunes. Here, we can pick out the best of the bunch and give these planets the attention they deserve. I have a few favorites as well:

• Kepler-1229b and Kepler-1593b: These are the two most promising planets of the bunch in terms of finding an Earth Analogue. While not the most Earth-like, these guys could be habitable and open up a new planet type: the Super-Mars. These are planets over 0.6 Earth Radii that receive similar solar energy outputs that Mars does in our own solar system. Both Kepler-1229b (Braciaca) and Kepler-1593b (Quirinus) orbit red dwarf stars and have very similar orbital characteristics. Braciaca is the most Earth-like, with less than 1.3 Earth Radii and a possibly thick atmosphere that could raise its temperature to like something in Canada. Quirinus is a giant rocky planet that gets less light than Braciaca, but a moderate greenhouse effect can get it to habitable temperatures. The size of Quirinus makes it a bit iffy in terms of being like Earth. It could well as be a gas dwarf, or be very dense, or be too geologically active for complex life to evolve. Either way, Braciaca and Quirinus will be remembered as some of the most Earth-like planets around M-Dwarfs.

Edited May 11, 2016 by ProtoJeb21

[Spaceception]

1 hour ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

On May 10th, NASA announced a staggering 1,284 planets discovered by Kepler, raising the about of know planets by over 25%. But the problem with a huge galaxy-load of planets is that the cool, unique, and amazing ones are hidden among the boring and typical Hot Jupiters/Neptunes. Here, we can pick out the best of the bunch and give these planets the attention they deserve. I have a few favorites as well:

• Kepler-1229b and Kepler-1593b: These are the two most promising planets of the bunch in terms of finding an Earth Analogue. While not the most Earth-like, these guys could be habitable and open up a new planet type: the Super-Mars. These are planets over 0.6 Earth Radii that receive similar solar energy outputs that Mars does in our own solar system. Both Kepler-1229b (Braciaca) and Kepler-1593b (Quirinus) orbit red dwarf stars and have very similar orbital characteristics. Braciaca is the most Earth-like, with less than 1.3 Earth Radii and a possibly thick atmosphere that could raise its temperature to like something in Canada. Quirinus is a giant rocky planet that gets less light than Braciaca, but a moderate greenhouse effect can get it to habitable temperatures. The size of Quirinus makes it a bit iffy in terms of being like Earth. It could well as be a gas dwarf, or be very dense, or be too geologically active for complex life to evolve. Either way, Braciaca and Quirinus will be remembered as some of the most Earth-like planets around M-Dwarfs.

I prefer 1410b to 1593b tbh, it's smaller, and receives about the same amount of sunlight Earth gets.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Spaceception

[PB666]

6 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

I prefer 1410b to 1593b tbh, it's smaller, and receives about the same amount of sunlight Earth gets.

1593b is my choice because

Larger a better chance of holding its atmosphere.
Larger and further from a orange star means less chance of gravitational locking.
The wavelengths it receive are more credible for photosynthesis.
As a larger planet it is more likely to have larger moons,
As a larger planet it is more likely to have a liquid/solid core interface and because its not locked and has most of it rotational energy preserved its more likely to have a magnetic field.

As such can preserve hydrogen, as such can preserve water, as such can have an oxygenated atmosphere,

The habitable zone would be nearer to the equator and this is unlikely a space-faring planet at any point in the future.

The flip-side however 1593 could be a small gassy planet with a relatively small core. I put that at about 70% probability. It may have once been a gas giant but the star might have blown off most of its atmosphere.

None of the planets discovered i see as particularly conducive to life, those with earth like orbits are too large and are greenhousy, those that are in the right zone for their size are all close to red stars.

 

 

[ProtoJeb21]

2 hours ago, PB666 said:

1593b is my choice because

Larger a better chance of holding its atmosphere.
Larger and further from a orange star means less chance of gravitational locking.
The wavelengths it receive are more credible for photosynthesis.
As a larger planet it is more likely to have larger moons,
As a larger planet it is more likely to have a liquid/solid core interface and because its not locked and has most of it rotational energy preserved its more likely to have a magnetic field.

I find Quirinus to be a cross between Kepler-62f and Kepler-186f. The host star and orbit are in between the values for the previously mentioned planets. I am worried about it being a gas dwarf, though. Quirinus could be a unique world for complex beings - more moons, peachy light, weirdly colored planets, giant auroras, high gravity, incredibly active geology, and a complex atmosphere.

Edited May 11, 2016 by ProtoJeb21

[ProtoJeb21]

Some Cool Planets I Found:

The Kepler-539 system seems a bit interesting. 539b seems to be a rather dense gas giant, with ~97% the mass and ~75% the radius of Jupiter. This planet may have formed on the inner boundary of the frost line and may have a large core. It also has a year of 125.6 days. Depending on the star, Kepler-539b may be in the habitable zone. Its neighbor, Kepler-539c, has a much longer year and was only found by radial velocity.

Kepler-607b has a radius just 7.8% that of Jupiter, making it just 87.36% as large as Earth. But this tiny planet whips around its star in just 15.3 hours! No matter what star, this planet is going to be quite a furnace.

The star Kepler-610 has two planets, and they may show the size of their parent. 610b has a year of about a week, but 610c has a year of 152 days. And no, 610c was NOT discovered by radial velocity. The star Kepler-610 is possibly an orange dwarf, because no known red dwarf has a transiting planet with a year of over 70 days.

Kepler-616b and Kepler-616c are two ice giants with 21.7% to 30% the radius of Jupiter, and are in a 9-1 resonance.

Kepler-653c is even smaller than Kepler-607b and has a year of about 21 hours. What's different is that it has a nearby ice giant with a year of about 2 weeks. This shows that the ice giant took Kepler-653c with it during its inward migration.

Kepler-699b may be a Super Jupiter. It has 1.26x Jupiter's radius and orbits once every 28 days. Either it's a hot Jupiter orbiting a large star, or a Super Jupiter orbiting a medium-sized star. Similar thing with Kepler-706b.

Kepler-758 has one of the largest systems in this data set. It has 4 planets, all less than 23% the size of Jupiter. They have radii of 0.221, 0.151, 0.189, and 0.136 times that of Jupiter, and years of 12.1, 4.7, 20.5, and 8.1 days. (Note: These values go from planets in order of their discovery, not distance)

Special mention to Kepler-1000b, which is actually kinda special for the planet of Kepler's 1000th system. It is 47% the size of Jupiter with a year of 120 days. If it orbits an orange dwarf, then it may be in the habitable zone.

[kunok]

Shouldn't we wait for more reliable data about their characteristics?

I didn't see in anywhere, so I suppose the answer is no, but there is any exomoon in this discovery? Or a candidate for?

[PB666]

16 hours ago, kunok said:

Shouldn't we wait for more reliable data about their characteristics?

I didn't see in anywhere, so I suppose the answer is no, but there is any exomoon in this discovery? Or a candidate for?

Of course we should wait, but some here are impatiently waiting for aliens to invade us and bodysnatch us with little green laser pointers. We have to humor them or they will end all their thread titles with 10^infinity exclamation points (i don't think they have read the definition of the gavian subspecies of Homo sapiens that habituates the internet). 

 

[ProtoJeb21]

When you have over 1,200 planets but very limited information that's hard to get, you're going to be pretty slap-happy at just about anything related to them.