Kepler-453: A Circumbinary Planet in a Distant System

Kepler-453 is a binary star system 1440 light-years away. Its host star has a reported mass of 0.969 solar masses, a reported radius of 0.862 solar radii, and a temperature of 5520 K. Compared with the Sun, the star's reported mass and radius estimates are smaller, and its reported temperature is cooler. One planet is known to orbit this host.

Kepler-453 b is a circumbinary planet, meaning it orbits both stars of the binary system rather than one star alone. It was discovered by transit in 2015. The transit method detects the small dip in observed brightness when a planet passes in front of its star; repeated dips help establish orbital periods. Kepler-453 b has a reported upper limit of 16 Earth masses and a radius of 6.2 Earth radii, larger than Earth's. Its size classifies it as Jupiter-like, a class that exceeds 4 times Earth's radius. It completes one orbit in 241 days.