Kepler Exoplanets - Validated and Candidates

[ProtoJeb21]

This is a thread to talk about the planets and findings of the Kepler Space Telescope. It also includes the K2 mission as well, along with candidate planets from both missions. 

Here are some Space Engine screenshots of a few Kepler candidate multiplanetary systems:

 

[Andi K.]

Wait...

HOW DID YOU GET IMGUR ALBUMS TO WORK?

[Spaceception]

3 minutes ago, AndrewDrawsPrettyPictures said:

Wait...

HOW DID YOU GET IMGUR ALBUMS TO WORK?

They work now, just copy the entire link, and it'll embed here.

[Andi K.]

1 hour ago, Spaceception said:

They work now, just copy the entire link, and it'll embed here.

Cool!

[ProtoJeb21]

A few days ago I bought an addition to my Exoplanet app (made by the guys who run the Open Exoplanet Catalogue) that adds in 3,800-something Kepler candidates. That's how I found out about KOI systems 435 and 571. But there are much more weird and awesome planet candidates I found that I hope get confirmed.

KOI-351: A 6-planet system orbiting a white main sequence star. The parent has 1.14 solar masses, 1.1 solar radii, and a temperature of 6,330*K. The planets come in a diverse range of sizes and temperatures. They range from 1.19 to 9.8 times the size of Earth, with temperatures as high as 1,056*K to as low as 292*K. The sextuplets come in 3 pairs. The first are a pair of scorched Super-Earths orbiting very near to each other. Next are two sub-Neptune radius planets. One of them could be what I call a "Water Giant," a planet with a thick atmosphere (at most 15% of its total mass) but mostly made of water, similar to Gliese 1214b. Finally, there are two Saturn-sized planets, both around the inner edge of the optimistic habitable zone.

 

KOI-1422: Five planets call this red dwarf star home. KOI-1422 is probably around spectral type M0V. It has 0.52 solar masses, 0.50 solar radii, and a temperature of 3,862*K. This system is odd because it is one of those tightly packed systems found close to their stars - some examples include Kepler-32 and Kepler-80. I believed this system type is known as STIPS or something like that. Anyways, these five planets are significantly cooler than those of KOI-351, and all are in the Super-Earth to Sub-Neptune range. 2 of them could be oceans worlds, one a desert planet, and another a desert with some small seas. The middle planet is odd to characterize. It's almost 2 Earth radii across, but is it a gas dwarf or ocean world? And are their small islands showing due to the evaporation of water from a huge greenhouse atmosphere? I don't know, and I'm not too sure if any of these possible planet characteristics will be confirmed at all.

 

Thoughts?

[ProtoJeb21]

Guess what? It turns out that the candidate systems I re-created are already confirmed. They are...

• Kepler-154
• Kepler-186
• Kepler-90
• Kepler-296

*Sigh*. Well, at least the visuals could be accurate to what the planets look like IRL. 

Also, what the Kraken is up with K2-77b? It seems like your typical 2.25 Re planet, but guess how massive it is:

Spoiler

NEARLY TWICE THE MASS OF JUPITER. That's more massive then every non-Sun object in our entire solar system combined!

 

[Scotius]

Quite the menagerie And due to observational bias it's very probable there are many more planets - just below our ability to detect them. Space is soooo full of wonders