KOI-4878.01 is an exoplanet candidate that orbits the F-type main-sequence star KOI-4878. It is located about 1075 light years (329 parsecs) from Earth.[1][2][3] The features of the planet are very similar to that of Earth, and if it is confirmed, it would be one of the most Earth-like planets found.[4] The orbital period of the exoplanet is around 449 Earth days. It is very likely located within the habitable zone of its parent star.[5][6]
Host star
Its host star is a F-type main-sequence star that is slightly less massive than the Sun, although it is about 5% larger and has a temperature of about 6031 K. The star is a V magnitude 12.4 star in the constellation Draco. Despite the unknown age of the star, its low metallicity and fairly high space velocity suggest that KOI-4878 is older than the Sun.[7][8]
Exoplanet detection
An analysis of the Kepler space telescope's data from its first to the twelve quarter revealed three possible transit events equally spaced in time. A post-analysis in the Sixteen quarter showed that the events happened within a period of 449 days, they had a duration of 12 and half hours and a transit depth of 94 ppm.[9]
Characteristics
Mass
KOI-4878.01's mass is somewhere between 1.4 - 3.0 Earth masses; likely about 1.9 Earth masses.[10][11]
Radius
The exoplanet has a slightly larger radius than Earth: 1.05 Earth radii.[12]
Temperature
It has an equilibrium temperature of 256 K (-16.5 °C; 2.3 °F), an average surface temperature of about 2.4 degrees C (4.3 degrees F) cooler than Earth, but it may have more greenhouse gases than Earth to trap heat. [13]
The estimated features of the planet are similar to an Earth analog.[15] It completes an orbit around its host star every 449 Earth days. Based on this, KOI-4878.01 should be in the habitable zone of the star.[16][17]