A team of astronomers have measured the mass and size of the smallest exoplanet yet, a Mars-sized planet named Kepler-138b orbiting a red dwarf star about 200 light years from the Solar System.
The animation shows the mass-radius diagram based on measurements of 127 exoplanets. The video begins by showing planets with masses similar to Jupiter and slowly zooms towards small masses and radii planets to display a comparison of the physical properties of the Kepler-138 planets relative to Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury.
The planet Kepler-138b is the first exoplanet smaller than the Earth to have both its mass and its size measured, and is one of three planets that orbit the star Kepler-138, and pass in front of it, or transit, every orbit. Each time a planet transits the star, it blocks a small fraction of the star's light, allowing astronomers to measure the size of the planet. All three planets were identified by NASA's Kepler mission that has discovered over a thousand planets around other stars.
Credit: Jason Rowe, NASA Ames/SETI Institute
