K2-22b (also known as EPIC 201637175 b) is an exoplanet 801 ly from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

, rapidly orbiting the red dwarf K2-22 with an orbital period of 9.145872 hours. It has a mass below 445 M_e and a radius below 2.5 R_e. The planet was not detected in the K2

photometry Photometry can refer to: * Photometry (optics), the science of measurement of visible light in terms of its perceived brightness to human vision * Photometry (astronomy), the measurement of the flux or intensity of an astronomical object's electro ...

. K2 photometry reveals the presence of an anomalous light curve consistent with evaporation of dust from the planet. This dust forms a tail both ahead and behind the planet, similar to some comets in the Solar System. The evaporation of this dust requires a low surface gravity from the host planet, implying it is a low mass, "Mars, Mercury, or even lunar sized bodies with surface gravities of 1/6 to 1/3 that of

are to be preferred." The survey in 2020 has failed to validate the existence of the planet, although did not claim it to be a false positive. The observation of planetary system in 2021 has failed to detect the planet itself, placing an upper limit of 0.71 on its size. With the observed mass loss rate, the probable planet mass is 0.02, and the planet will be gone in 21 million years in future.

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Exoplanets discovered in 2015 Transiting exoplanets 2 Leo (constellation) {{extrasolar-planet-stub

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