KOI-3158: The oldest known system of terrestrial-size planets

Journal
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Campante, T. L.
•
Barclay, T.
•
Swift, J. J.
•
Huber, D.
•
Adibekyan, V. Zh.
•
Cochran, W.
•
Burke, C. J.
•
Isaacson, H.
•
Quintana, E. V.
•
Davies, G. R.
•
Silva Aguirre, V.
•
Ragozzine, D.
•
Riddle, R.
•
Baranec, C.
•
Basu, S.
•
Chaplin, W. J.
•
Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.
•
Metcalfe, T. S.
•
Bedding, T. R.
•
Handberg, R.
•
Stello, D.
•
Brewer, J. M.
•
Hekker, S.
•
Karoff, C.
•
Kolbl, R.
•
Law, N. M.
•
Lundkvist, M.
•
Miglio, A.
•
Rowe, J. F.
•
Santos, N. C.
•
Van Laerhoven, C.
•
Arentoft, T.
•
Elsworth, Y. P.
•
Fischer, D. A.
•
Kawaler, S. D.
•
Kjeldsen, H.
•
Lund, M. N.
•
Marcy, G. W.
•
Sousa, S. G.
•
•
White, T. R.
DOI
Abstract
The first discoveries of exoplanets around Sun-like stars have fueled efforts to find ever smaller worlds evocative of Earth and other terrestrial planets in the Solar System. While gas-giant planets appear to form preferentially around metal-rich stars, small planets (with radii less than four Earth radii) can form under a wide range of metallicities. This implies that small, including Earth-size, planets may have readily formed at earlier epochs in the Universe's history when metals were far less abundant. We report Kepler spacecraft observations of KOI-3158, a metal-poor Sun-like star from the old population of the Galactic thick disk, which hosts five planets with sizes between Mercury and Venus. We used asteroseismology to directly measure a precise age of 11.2 ± 1.0 Gyr for the host star, indicating that KOI-3158 formed when the Universe was less than 20 % of its current age and making it the oldest known system of terrestrial-size planets. We thus show that Earth-size planets have formed throughout most of the Universe's 13.8-billion-year history, providing scope for the existence of ancient life in the Galaxy.
Coverage
The Space Photometry Revolution - CoRoT Symposium 3, Kepler KASC-7 Joint Meeting
All editors
García. R.A.; Ballot, J.
Volume
101
Start page
02004
Conferenece
The Space Photometry Revolution - CoRoT Symposium 3, Kepler KASC-7 Joint Meeting
Conferenece place
Toulouse, France
Conferenece date
July 6-11, 2014
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
2101-6275
Ads BibCode
2015EPJWC.10102004C
Rights
open.access
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