1304.7387 (W. J. Borucki et al.)

Kepler-62: A five-planet system with planets of 1.4 and 1.6 Earth radii in the Habitable Zone    [PDF]

W. J. Borucki, E. Agol, F. Fressin, L. Kaltenegger, J. Rowe, H. Isaacson, D. Fischer, N. Batalha, J. J. Lissauer, G. W. Marcy, D. Fabrycky, J. -M. Désert, S. T. Bryson, T. Barclay, F. Bastien, A. Boss, E. Brugamyer, L. A. Buchhave, Chris Burke, D. A. Caldwell, J. Carter, D. Charbonneau, J. R. Crepp, J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, J. L. Christiansen, D. Ciardi, W. D. Cochran, E. DeVore, L. Doyle, A. K. Dupree, M. Endl, M. E. Everett, E. B. Ford, J. Fortney, T. N. Gautier III, J. C. Geary, A. Gould, M. Haas, C. Henze, A. W. Howard, S. B. Howell, D. Huber, J. M. Jenkins, H. Kjeldsen, R. Kolbl, J. Kolodziejczak, D. W. Latham, B. L. Lee, E. Lopez, F. Mullally, J. A. Orosz, A. Prsa, E. V. Quintana, R. Sanchez-Ojeda, D. Sasselov, S. Seader, A. Shporer, J. H. Steffen, M. Still, P. Tenenbaum, S. E. Thompson, G. Torres, J. D. Twicken, W. F. Welsh, J. N. Winn

We present the detection of five planets -- Kepler-62b, c, d, e, and f -- of size 1.31, 0.54, 1.95, 1.61 and 1.41 Earth radii, orbiting a K2V star at periods of 5.7, 12.4, 18.2, 122.4 and 267.3 days, respectively. The outermost planets (Kepler-62e & -62f) are super-Earth-size (1.25 < planet radius/earth radius < 2.0) planets in the habitable zone (HZ) of their host star, receiving 1.2 +- 0.2 and 0.41 +- 0.05 times the solar flux at Earth's orbit. Theoretical models of Kepler-62e and -62f for a stellar age of ~7 Gyr suggest that both planets could be solid: either with a rocky composition or composed of mostly solid water in their bulk.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.7387