Astronomers using NASA Kepler data have discovered a transiting exoplanet with the longest known year. Kepler-421b orbits its star once every 704 days. Kepler-421b orbits an orange, K-type star that is cooler and dimmer than our sun and is located about 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.
This artist’s conception shows Kepler-421b, a Uranus-sized transiting exoplanet with the longest known year, circling its star once every 704 days. Kepler-421b orbits an orange, K-type star that is cooler and dimmer than our sun and is located about 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.
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Image Credit:
Harvard-Smithsonian, Center for Astrophysics/D. A. Aguilar