Kepler-10b

Kepler - 10b is an Earth-sized planet around and orbits Kepler -10 in the constellation Dragon in the northern sky. He is the first rocky planet, which was discovered using the Kepler space telescope. The exoplanet is about 1.4 times the size and 4.6 times the mass of Earth, and until January 2011, the smallest planet detected at another star and its diameter could be determined with the transit method. It orbits its host star Kepler - 10, which is away from our solar system 560 light years, about every 0.84 days at less than a 20th of the distance between Mercury and the Sun.

The data, which led to the discovery of Kepler- 10b, were collected from May 2009 to January 2010.

Due to the small distance from its star, he is not in the habitable zone. Estimates of the equilibrium temperature of the planet will be more than 1800 K ( about 1600 ° C). Its high density of about 8.8 g/cm3 ( Earth about 5.5 g/cm3) indicates a high metal content.

The discovery of Kepler- 10b is an important milestone for the Kepler program.