Astronomical evidence
K2-22 b repeats its transit signal on an approximately 9.15-hour orbit. The occultation changes markedly from one observation to another. A disintegrating body shedding dust explains the variable signal, and the discovery analysis considers a leading dust tail as part of that interpretation. [1,2] Follow-up observations recovered the transits at multiple epochs and documented continued changes in their depth and shape. The evidence is a changing light curve: the amount of stellar light removed from our line of sight varies with the distribution of occulting material. [3] A dusty transit is not a clean measurement of a solid planetary disk. The tabulated radius must therefore be interpreted with the source method in mind. Dust abundance, grain properties and geometry can affect the signal without a comparable change in the surviving body’s physical radius. [1,2]
The illustrated viewpoint
Nonhumanoid / filament-crowned aperture. An invented protected orbital viewpoint near K2-22 b. The surviving body, copper dust arc and stellar occultation illustrate the disintegration interpretation. Dust color, structure and angular extent are not measured images. The illuminated dust is not a jet of fire or a procession of resolved boulders. The creature and protected viewpoint are fictional.
The surviving body, copper dust arc and stellar occultation illustrate the disintegration interpretation. Dust color, structure and angular extent are not measured images. The illuminated dust is not a jet of fire or a procession of resolved boulders. The creature and protected viewpoint are fictional. All beings, civilizations and technology are fictional. No motives, moral alignment or character history is asserted.
Catalog measurements & sources
Host: K2-22. Snapshot: 25 September 2026. Errors, limits and source provenance are retained. Calculated values and model estimates are not direct measurements. Unknown is not zero; equilibrium temperature is not surface temperature.
| Quantity / unit | Value / reported errors | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Radius · Earth radii | 2.3 (+0.1 / -0.1) | Adams et al. 2021 |
| Mass · Earth masses | ≤ 444.962 | Sanchis-Ojeda et al. 2015 |
| Density · g/cm³ | Unknown | Not supplied |
| Orbital period · days | 0.381073 (+2.4e-05 / -2.4e-05) | Adams et al. 2021 |
| Orbital semimajor axis · AU | 0.009 (+0 / 0) | Dressing et al. 2017 |
| Eccentricity | 0.19 (+0.221175 / -0.152914) | Dressing et al. 2017 |
| Inclination · degrees | 90.6 (+8 / -7) | Adams et al. 2021 |
| Irradiation · Earth flux | 114 (+45 / -45) | Crossfield et al. 2016 |
| Equilibrium temperature · K | 2100 | Sanchis-Ojeda et al. 2015 |
| Stellar effective temperature · K | 3879 (+90 / -90) | Adams et al. 2021 |
| Stellar radius · Solar | 0.58 (+0.03 / -0.03) | Adams et al. 2021 |
| Stellar mass · Solar | 0.595292 (+0.059529 / -0.059529) | Dressing et al. 2017 |
| Stellar luminosity · log Solar | -1.0744 (+0.01092 / -0.0112) | Gaia DR2 |
| Stellar age · Gyr | Unknown | Not supplied |
| Stellar metallicity · dex | 0.032 (+0.12 / -0.12) | Adams et al. 2021 |
| Distance · pc | 243.836 (+2.7975 / -2.7975) | TICv8 |