The shore of a small sun
The first thing this imagined shore receives is energy from a star. Kepler-1649 c crosses its host every 19.53527 ± 0.00010 days, and its transit-derived radius is 1.06 (+0.15 / −0.10) Earth radii in our saved catalog. Those measurements give the scene an address and a scale. They do not reveal the coast, its water or the organisms at our feet [1, 2]. For this book, we give the planet a rocky surface, an atmosphere and enough liquid water to sustain an invented ecosystem. Copper-dark ribbons spread across porous basalt. Their folded surfaces collect light; their anchored bases exchange dissolved materials with the shallow pools. “Botanical” describes their ecological role, not membership in Earth’s plant kingdom. The translucent creatures among the ribbons are plate-creepers. They browse secretions and carry fragments between colonies. Their bodies repeat a radial plan used throughout the series, but their relationship to the rooted organisms is invented. The garden begins with exchanges: shelter for one partner, cleaning and redistributed nutrients for another. The broad sky keeps those relationships in proportion. Neither an Earth-like radius nor a mild energy input proves habitability. Even the apparent sun is illustrative: the catalog geometry gives a central estimate near 1.90 degrees, while the artwork’s disk and exposure are not a calibrated measurement. Viewpoint: Shoreline panorama on the illuminated hemisphere.
The imagined scene
The host system is real. All alien organisms, robots, societies and social histories are fictional. Moons, rings, terrain and weather are artistic assumptions unless specifically supported by a cited source. These images are not calibrated simulations of the sky.
The scientific anchor
Kepler-1649 c is a transiting planet around Kepler-1649. Its saved catalog radius is 1.06 (+0.15 / −0.10) Earth radii and its period is 19.53527 ± 0.00010 days [Vanderburg et al. 2020]. This scene explores orbital light and a living shoreline. Photosynthetic ribbon colonies anchor in basalt pores; small plate-creepers browse their secretions and transport organic debris. All illustrated biology is fictional.
Vanderburg et al. 2020 — Kepler-1649 c discovery and measured parameters · NASA Exoplanet Archive — Kepler-1649 c · Kiang et al. 2007 — photosynthetic spectra as a general research context · Vanderburg et al. 2020 · Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table
Available measurements
Host: Kepler-1649 · 1 catalog star(s) · Rocky-size candidate
NASA composite catalog values may combine different papers. Errors and upper/lower limits are retained. “Calculated Value” means derived or estimated. Msini is a minimum mass. Missing values are unknown. A multiple-star system’s single stellar row does not describe every component. Equilibrium temperature is not a measured surface temperature.
| Quantity | Value & uncertainty | Unit | Paper / source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planet radius | 1.06 [+0.15 / -0.1] | Earth radii | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Planet mass | 1.2 | Earth masses | Calculated Value |
| Bulk density | 5.54 | g/cm³ | Calculated Value |
| Orbital period | 19.535 [+0.0001 / -0.0001] | days | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Orbital semimajor axis | 0.0649 | AU | Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table |
| Orbital eccentricity | 0 | Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table | |
| Orbital inclination | 89.339 [+0.056 / -0.056] | degrees | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Irradiation | 0.75 [+0.032 / -0.302] | Earth flux | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Equilibrium temperature | 234 [+20 / -20] | K; not surface temperature | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar effective temperature | 3,240 [+61 / -61] | K | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar radius | 0.2317 [+0.0049 / -0.0049] | Solar radii | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar mass | 0.1977 [+0.0051 / -0.0051] | Solar masses | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar luminosity | -2.2873 [+0.01652 / -0.01717] | log10 Solar luminosity | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| Catalog stellar age | Unknown | Gyr | Source not supplied |
| Catalog stellar metallicity | -0.15 [+0.11 / -0.11] | dex | Vanderburg et al. 2020 |
| System distance | 92.191 [+0.5489 / -0.5425] | pc | TICv8 |
What about life?
Passes a deliberately broad 0.25–1.75 Earth-flux triage window. This is not a calculated habitable zone or evidence of water or life. Atmosphere, surface pressure, water inventory, stellar activity and orbital history remain unassessed. No confirmed life; no planet-specific biosignature literature review in this release.
Papers and references
Vanderburg et al. 2020 — Kepler-1649 c discovery and measured parameters · NASA Exoplanet Archive — Kepler-1649 c · Kiang et al. 2007 — photosynthetic spectra as a general research context · Vanderburg et al. 2020 · Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table · TICv8