Kepler-68b is an exoplanet orbiting the Sun-like star Kepler-68 in the constellation of Cygnus. Discovered by planetary-transit methods by the

Kepler space telescope The Kepler space telescope is a disused space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized Exoplanet, planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocen ...

in February 2013, it has a radius of 2.31 ± 0.07 that of

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 ...

and a density of 2.46–4.3 g/cm³. It has an orbital period of 5.398763 days at a distance of about 0.0617 AU from its star. Doppler measurements were made to determine its mass to be 5.79 times that of Earth (0.026 M_J). With a density of 2.6 g/cm³ it has physical characteristics of both a

super-Earth A super-Earth is an extrasolar planet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below those of the Solar System's ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17 times Earth's, respectively. The term "super-Earth" refers only to ...

and a

mini-Neptune A Mini-Neptune (sometimes known as a gas dwarf or transitional planet) is a planet less massive than Neptune but resembling Neptune in that it has a thick hydrogen–helium atmosphere, probably with deep layers of ice, rock or liquid oceans (mad ...

References

Exoplanets discovered in 2013 68b Cygnus (constellation) Terrestrial planets Transiting exoplanets {{extrasolar-planet-stub

See also

References