---
title: "Kepler ‘K2′ Finds First Exoplanet, A ‘Super-Earth"
description: "NASA’s Kepler space telescope found its first exoplanet by using a new technique that takes advantage of the solar wind"
date: "2014-12-19"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "StefanCretu"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/stefancretu"
url: "https://futurism.com/kepler-k2%e2%80%b2-finds-first-exoplanet-super-earth"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Exoplanets"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "space"
---

# Kepler ‘K2′ Finds First Exoplanet, A ‘Super-Earth

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/kepler_space_telescope-580x356.jpg>)

- Kepler’s find was a smaller planet — a super-Earth! It’s likely a water world or a rocky core shrouded in a thick, Neptune-like atmosphere. Called HIP 116454b, it’s 2.5 times the size of Earth and a whopping 12 times the mass
- The exoplanet circles its dwarf star quickly, every 9.1 days, and is about 180 light-years from Earth
- The planet it found is ripe for follow-up studies,” stated lead author Andrew Vanderburg of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics