Kepler-186b (also known as
KOI-571.03) is an
exoplanet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...
located around 582
light-year
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astr ...
s away from
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
. Kepler-186b orbits a
red dwarf
A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...
known as
Kepler-186, named after the
space telescope
A space telescope (also known as space observatory) is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO ...
that found it.
Physical characteristics
Orbit
Kepler-186b is the innermost planet and the smallest of its system, and thus not
suitable for life. The orbital period of this planet is just under four Earth days long due to its location near the parent star.
It is tidally locked. As a result, one hemisphere is in eternal daylight while the other hemisphere is in endless darkness.
The other planets in the system are Kepler-186c, d, e, and f, of which only Kepler-186f is within the habitable zone.
References
Transiting exoplanets
Exoplanets discovered in 2014
Kepler-186
186b
{{exoplanet-stub
Cygnus (constellation)