Kepler-68 is a Sun-like main sequence star located 471 light-years (144 parsecs) away in the constellation Cygnus. It is known to have at least four planets orbiting around it.[3] The third planet has a mass similar to Jupiter but orbits within the habitable zone.[5]
High resolution imaging observations of Kepler-68 carried out with the lucky imaging instrument AstraLux on the 2.2m telescope at Calar Alto Observatory detected a wide companion candidate approximately 11 arcseconds away. Comparing these observations to the 2MASS positions shows that the companions proper motion is consistent with it being bound to the Kepler-68 system, but further observations are needed to confirm this conclusion.[6] Eleven arcseconds at the distance of Kepler-68 leads to a sky projected separation of approximately 1600 Astronomical units. A circular orbit at that distance would have a period of roughly 50,000 years.[7]
Planetary system
Currently, four planets have been discovered to orbit around Kepler-68. The two innermost planets were discovered by the planetary transit method. Follow-up Doppler measurements helped to determine the mass of Kepler-68b and helped to discover Kepler-68d.[5][8] There is an additional signal present in the radial velocity measurements indicating another body in the system at a period of greater than 10 years. The mass of this object was initially unknown and it could be either another planet or a stellar companion.[7] In 2023, this fourth planet was confirmed, with a minimum mass about that of Saturn.[3]
