A Statistical Analysis on the Number of Earth and Jupiter Type Exoplanets Detected by the Kepler Space Telescope

International Journal of Applied Physics

© 2023 by SSRG - IJAP Journal

Volume 10 Issue 3

Year of Publication : 2023

Authors : Dron Paul Choudhury

10.14445/23500301/IJAP-V10I3P103

How to Cite?

Dron Paul Choudhury, "A Statistical Analysis on the Number of Earth and Jupiter Type Exoplanets Detected by the Kepler Space Telescope," SSRG International Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 10,  no. 3, pp. 12-21, 2023. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23500301/IJAP-V10I3P103

Abstract:

Exoplanets are located outside the solar system, with local star systems. The first exoplanet was detected around the pulsar PSR 1257+12, a magnetized neutron star. Exoplanetary detection techniques include radial velocity, transit spectroscopy, gravitational microlensing, etc. The widely used transit method uses the light curve of the parent star as a reference. Fluctuations are due to the exoplanet’s motion in front of the star. Exoplanets are of two types - terrestrial like Earth and Mars and gas giants like Jupiter and Neptune. Launched in 2009, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope aimed to detect Earth-type exoplanets around Sun-like stars. Decommissioned in 2018, it confirmed 2741 exoplanets. This research provides a statistical analysis of the exoplanets detected by the Kepler Telescope. To this, Earth-type and Jupiter-type exoplanets are defined within ±25% of the radius of Earth or Jupiter, respectively. This study reveals that the number of Earth and Jupitertype exoplanets detected are 341 and 94, respectively. The mean exoplanet radius is 2.84 Earth radii with an orbital period of 27.77 Earth days and a stellar radius of 1.05 solar radii. 95.4% of the confirmed exoplanets are smaller than Jupiter-type planets, suggesting a higher possibility of terrestrial exoplanets than gaseous exoplanets.

Keywords:

Exoplanet, Earth-type, Jupiter-type, Kepler space telescope, NASA, Transit method.

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