Kepler-62: A Cool Dwarf and Its Five Worlds

Kepler-62 is a K2 V star located 981 light-years away, a main-sequence dwarf cooler and smaller than the Sun. Its reported mass is 0.69 solar masses and its radius is 0.64 solar radii, both smaller than the Sun's, while its temperature of 4930 K is cooler. The star is also old, with a reported age of 7 billion years. Five planets are known to orbit this host.

All five were discovered by transit, the method in which a planet passes in front of its star from our viewpoint and causes a small dip in observed brightness, and all were announced in 2013. Kepler-62 b is an Earth-like planet with a radius of 1.31 Earth radii, larger than Earth's, and a reported upper limit of 9 Earth masses. Its orbital period is 5.71 days, the shortest among these planets. Kepler-62 c is a Sub-Earth with a radius of 0.54 Earth radii, smaller than Earth's, and a reported upper limit of 4 Earth masses; its period is 12.4 days, the second-shortest here. Kepler-62 d, a Super-Earth with the largest radius of the group at 1.95 Earth radii, has a reported upper limit of 14 Earth masses and a period of 18.2 days. Kepler-62 e is a Super-Earth with a radius of 1.61 Earth radii, larger than Earth's, a reported upper limit of 36 Earth masses, and a period of 122 days. Kepler-62 f is an Earth-like planet with a radius of 1.41 Earth radii, larger than Earth's, a reported upper limit of 35 Earth masses, and a period of 267 days, the longest among the listed planets.