Kepler-186 f — night
Cold dimly illuminated biosphere hypothesis: low black lichen-like carpets and translucent disk-shaped drifting organisms above frost; insulating featherless ribbon fronds.
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
This illustration is associated with Kepler-186 f, a catalogued exoplanet orbiting Kepler-186. The available catalog measurements below describe the real system; they do not establish the illustrated scenery.
Quintana et al. 2014 · Torres et al. 2015 · Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table · TICv8
The NASA archive flags this planet as controversial. Its inclusion here follows the catalog and is not independent confirmation.
Available measurements
Host: Kepler-186 · 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 | 1.17 [+0.08 / -0.08] | Earth radii | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Planet mass | 1.71 | Earth masses | Calculated Value |
| Bulk density | 5.87 | g/cm³ | Calculated Value |
| Orbital period | 129.94 [+0.0013 / -0.0012] | days | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Orbital semimajor axis | 0.432 [+0.171 / -0.053] | AU | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Orbital eccentricity | ≥ 0.04 (lower limit) [+0.07 / -0.04] | Torres et al. 2015 | |
| Orbital inclination | 89.96 [+0.04 / -0.1] | degrees | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Irradiation | 0.3 [+0.1 / -0.15] | Earth flux | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Equilibrium temperature | 177 | K; not surface temperature | Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table |
| Catalog stellar effective temperature | 3,755 [+90 / -90] | K | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Catalog stellar radius | 0.523 [+0.023 / -0.021] | Solar radii | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Catalog stellar mass | 0.544 [+0.024 / -0.021] | Solar masses | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Catalog stellar luminosity | -1.26 [+0.079 / -0.05] | log10 Solar luminosity | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Catalog stellar age | 4 [+0.6 / -0.6] | Gyr | Torres et al. 2015 |
| Catalog stellar metallicity | -0.26 [+0.12 / -0.12] | dex | Torres et al. 2015 |
| System distance | 177.59 [+0.774 / -0.774] | 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. Archive controversy flag is set; review planet status before production. No confirmed life; no planet-specific biosignature literature review in this release.
Papers and references
Quintana et al. 2014 · Torres et al. 2015 · Q1-Q17 DR25 KOI Table · TICv8