EPIC 248847494 b

Astrophysical Synthesis & Habitability Characterization

EPIC 248847494 b is a confirmed gas giant exoplanet orbiting the star EPIC 248847494, located approximately 1800 light-years (551.89 parsecs) from the Solar System. First announced in 2018 by K2 using the Transit detection technique (producing an estimated primary transit depth of 0.1785% across the stellar disk), this world measures 12.442 Earth radii (1.11 Jupiter radii) and has a measured mass of 4131.79 Earth masses (13 Jupiter masses). Combining its mass and radius yields a mean bulk density of 11.83 g/cm³ (an iron-enriched, high-compression rocky core), a surface gravity of 26.69 g⊕ (261.74 m/s²), and an escape velocity of 203.8 km/s.

In its orbital architecture around EPIC 248847494, EPIC 248847494 b completes one full revolution every 3650 Earth days (9.99Julian years) at a semi-major axis of 4.5 AU (corresponding to the middle-system regime between Mars at 1.52 AU and Jupiter at 5.20 AU). Its mean orbital velocity is approximately 13.4 km/s (compared to Earth's 29.8 km/s). The orbit is modeled as circular (e = 0.00), maintaining a constant stellar distance throughout its year.

☁️ Atmospheric Regime (Volatile / Gas Envelope): With a radius of 12.442 R⊕, EPIC 248847494 b exceeds the empirical ~1.8–2.2 R⊕ Fulton radius valley threshold, indicating a substantial hydrogen-helium or supercritical volatile envelope without a conventional solid terrestrial surface.

The host star EPIC 248847494 is classified as a stellar host with an effective photospheric temperature of 4,898 K, a radius of 2.7 R☉, a mass of 0.9 M☉, an estimated bolometric luminosity of 3.764 L☉. Stellar evolution modeling indicates a metallicity of [Fe/H] = -0.23 dex (metal-poor relative to the Sun). From Earth, EPIC 248847494 shines at apparent V-band magnitude 12.353 (faint and requiring research-grade or CCD telescopic photometry) in the Northern celestial hemisphere.

Discovery Facility: K2 · Catalogue Source: NASA Exoplanet Archive (IPAC / Caltech).