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Rare exoplanet 38 EP

Kepler-431 c

RA 281.1123° · Dec 43.2278° · exoplanet

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
38 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Tidally locked +10
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
  • Found by Kepler +3
Total score 38

12 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Tidally locked · +10
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Found by Kepler · +3
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Hugging its star. It orbits closer to its star than Mercury does to the Sun, completing a lap in less time than Mercury takes.
  • What it is made of. Its density says rock, though lighter than Earth's mix: probably less iron, or a thick shell of water and ice over the top.
  • Crowded system. One of at least 3 planets orbiting its star.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 12.1 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around July — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

density gcc
4.22
diameter km
8521.1416
discovery facility
Kepler
discovery method
Transit
discovery year
2015
dist ly
1586.899
eccentricity
0
eq temp k
951
host star teff
6004
inclination
82.35
insolation
415.545
mag
12.139
mass earth
0.229
name
Kepler-431 c
orbital period days
8.703
radius earth
0.668
semi major au
0.0847
sys num planets
3
sys num stars
1
tidally locked
yes
tidally locked inferred
yes

About Kepler-431 c

Kepler-431 c is a rare exoplanet. It lies about 1,586.9 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 12.14, has an equilibrium temperature near 951 K and spans roughly 0.67 Earth radii.

It orbits closer to its star than Mercury does to the Sun, completing a lap in less time than Mercury takes.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 12.14, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, Kepler-431 c is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why Kepler-431 c is a rare exoplanet

Kepler-431 c scores 38 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Tidally locked, Multi-planet system, Found by Kepler and Orbits a Sun-like star — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.