An Earth-sized planet with an Earth-like density

Francesco Pepe; Andrew Collier Cameron; David W. Latham; Emilio Molinari; Stéphane Udry; Aldo S. Bonomo; Lars A. Buchhave; David Charbonneau; Rosario Cosentino; Courtney D. Dressing; Xavier Dumusque; Pedro Figueira; Aldo F. M. Fiorenzano; Sara Gettel; Avet Harutyunyan; Raphaëlle D. Haywood; Keith Horne; Mercedes Lopez-Morales; Christophe Lovis; Luca Malavolta; Michel Mayor; Giusi Micela; Fatemeh Motalebi; Valerio Nascimbeni; David Phillips; Giampaolo Piotto; Don Pollacco; Didier Queloz; Ken Rice; Dimitar Sasselov; Damien Segransan; Alessandro Sozzetti; Andrew Szentgyorgyi; Christopher A. Watson

doi:10.1038/nature12768

An Earth-sized planet with an Earth-like density

Francesco Pepe, Andrew Collier Cameron, David W. Latham, Emilio Molinari, Stéphane Udry, Aldo S. Bonomo, Lars A. Buchhave, David Charbonneau, Rosario Cosentino, Courtney D. Dressing, Xavier Dumusque, Pedro Figueira, Aldo F. M. Fiorenzano, Sara Gettel, Avet Harutyunyan, Raphaëlle D. Haywood, Keith Horne, Mercedes Lopez-Morales, Christophe Lovis, Luca MalavoltaMichel Mayor, Giusi Micela, Fatemeh Motalebi, Valerio Nascimbeni, David Phillips, Giampaolo Piotto, Don Pollacco, Didier Queloz, Ken Rice, Dimitar Sasselov, Damien Segransan, Alessandro Sozzetti, Andrew Szentgyorgyi, Christopher A. Watson

143 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent analyses of data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft have established that planets with radii within 25 per cent of the Earth's (R) are commonplace throughout the Galaxy, orbiting at least 16.5 per cent of Sun-like stars. Because these studies were sensitive to the sizes of the planets but not their masses, the question remains whether these Earth-sized planets are indeed similar to the Earth in bulk composition. The smallest planets for which masses have been accurately determined are Kepler-10b (1.42R) and Kepler-36b (1.49R), which are both significantly larger than the Earth. Recently, the planet Kepler-78b was discovered and found to have a radius of only 1.16R. Here we report that the mass of this planet is 1.86 Earth masses. The resulting mean density of the planet is 5.57 g cm^-3, which is similar to that of the Earth and implies a composition of iron and rock.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature
Volume	503
Issue number	7476
Pages (from-to)	377-380
Number of pages	4
ISSN	0028-0836
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12768
Publication status	Published - 21 Nov 2013

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Pepe, F., Cameron, A. C., Latham, D. W., Molinari, E., Udry, S., Bonomo, A. S., Buchhave, L. A., Charbonneau, D., Cosentino, R., Dressing, C. D., Dumusque, X., Figueira, P., Fiorenzano, A. F. M., Gettel, S., Harutyunyan, A., Haywood, R. D., Horne, K., Lopez-Morales, M., Lovis, C., ... Watson, C. A. (2013). An Earth-sized planet with an Earth-like density. Nature, 503(7476), 377-380. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12768

Pepe, F, Cameron, AC, Latham, DW, Molinari, E, Udry, S, Bonomo, AS, Buchhave, LA, Charbonneau, D, Cosentino, R, Dressing, CD, Dumusque, X, Figueira, P, Fiorenzano, AFM, Gettel, S, Harutyunyan, A, Haywood, RD, Horne, K, Lopez-Morales, M, Lovis, C, Malavolta, L, Mayor, M, Micela, G, Motalebi, F, Nascimbeni, V, Phillips, D, Piotto, G, Pollacco, D, Queloz, D, Rice, K, Sasselov, D, Segransan, D, Sozzetti, A, Szentgyorgyi, A & Watson, CA 2013, 'An Earth-sized planet with an Earth-like density', Nature, vol. 503, no. 7476, pp. 377-380. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12768

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title = "An Earth-sized planet with an Earth-like density",

abstract = "Recent analyses of data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft have established that planets with radii within 25 per cent of the Earth's (R) are commonplace throughout the Galaxy, orbiting at least 16.5 per cent of Sun-like stars. Because these studies were sensitive to the sizes of the planets but not their masses, the question remains whether these Earth-sized planets are indeed similar to the Earth in bulk composition. The smallest planets for which masses have been accurately determined are Kepler-10b (1.42R) and Kepler-36b (1.49R), which are both significantly larger than the Earth. Recently, the planet Kepler-78b was discovered and found to have a radius of only 1.16R. Here we report that the mass of this planet is 1.86 Earth masses. The resulting mean density of the planet is 5.57 g cm-3, which is similar to that of the Earth and implies a composition of iron and rock.",

author = "Francesco Pepe and Cameron, {Andrew Collier} and Latham, {David W.} and Emilio Molinari and St{\'e}phane Udry and Bonomo, {Aldo S.} and Buchhave, {Lars A.} and David Charbonneau and Rosario Cosentino and Dressing, {Courtney D.} and Xavier Dumusque and Pedro Figueira and Fiorenzano, {Aldo F. M.} and Sara Gettel and Avet Harutyunyan and Haywood, {Rapha{\"e}lle D.} and Keith Horne and Mercedes Lopez-Morales and Christophe Lovis and Luca Malavolta and Michel Mayor and Giusi Micela and Fatemeh Motalebi and Valerio Nascimbeni and David Phillips and Giampaolo Piotto and Don Pollacco and Didier Queloz and Ken Rice and Dimitar Sasselov and Damien Segransan and Alessandro Sozzetti and Andrew Szentgyorgyi and Watson, {Christopher A.}",

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AU - Pepe, Francesco

AU - Cameron, Andrew Collier

AU - Latham, David W.

AU - Molinari, Emilio

AU - Udry, Stéphane

AU - Bonomo, Aldo S.

AU - Buchhave, Lars A.

AU - Charbonneau, David

AU - Cosentino, Rosario

AU - Dressing, Courtney D.

AU - Dumusque, Xavier

AU - Figueira, Pedro

AU - Fiorenzano, Aldo F. M.

AU - Gettel, Sara

AU - Harutyunyan, Avet

AU - Haywood, Raphaëlle D.

AU - Horne, Keith

AU - Lopez-Morales, Mercedes

AU - Lovis, Christophe

AU - Malavolta, Luca

AU - Mayor, Michel

AU - Micela, Giusi

AU - Motalebi, Fatemeh

AU - Nascimbeni, Valerio

AU - Phillips, David

AU - Piotto, Giampaolo

AU - Pollacco, Don

AU - Queloz, Didier

AU - Rice, Ken

AU - Sasselov, Dimitar

AU - Segransan, Damien

AU - Sozzetti, Alessandro

AU - Szentgyorgyi, Andrew

AU - Watson, Christopher A.

PY - 2013/11/21

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N2 - Recent analyses of data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft have established that planets with radii within 25 per cent of the Earth's (R) are commonplace throughout the Galaxy, orbiting at least 16.5 per cent of Sun-like stars. Because these studies were sensitive to the sizes of the planets but not their masses, the question remains whether these Earth-sized planets are indeed similar to the Earth in bulk composition. The smallest planets for which masses have been accurately determined are Kepler-10b (1.42R) and Kepler-36b (1.49R), which are both significantly larger than the Earth. Recently, the planet Kepler-78b was discovered and found to have a radius of only 1.16R. Here we report that the mass of this planet is 1.86 Earth masses. The resulting mean density of the planet is 5.57 g cm-3, which is similar to that of the Earth and implies a composition of iron and rock.

AB - Recent analyses of data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft have established that planets with radii within 25 per cent of the Earth's (R) are commonplace throughout the Galaxy, orbiting at least 16.5 per cent of Sun-like stars. Because these studies were sensitive to the sizes of the planets but not their masses, the question remains whether these Earth-sized planets are indeed similar to the Earth in bulk composition. The smallest planets for which masses have been accurately determined are Kepler-10b (1.42R) and Kepler-36b (1.49R), which are both significantly larger than the Earth. Recently, the planet Kepler-78b was discovered and found to have a radius of only 1.16R. Here we report that the mass of this planet is 1.86 Earth masses. The resulting mean density of the planet is 5.57 g cm-3, which is similar to that of the Earth and implies a composition of iron and rock.

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An Earth-sized planet with an Earth-like density

Abstract

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