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Entering orbit…
Habitability
94/ 100
Highly Habitable
K2-72 e rendered in TerraForge from its measured mass, orbit and star

K2-72 e

Also written K2-72e, K2 72e, K2 72 e

Earth Like216 light years awayFound 2016
Mass
2.21 × Earth
Radius
1.29 × Earth
Gravity
1.33 g
Surface (est.)
305 K
Year
24.2 days
From Earth
217 ly
Mass
2.21 × Earth
Radius
1.29 × Earth
Gravity
1.33 g
Surface (est.)
305 K
Year
24.2 days
From Earth
217 ly

K2-72 system

Type
M-type (Red Dwarf)
Temperature
3,360 K
Radius
0.331 ☉
Mass
0.271 ☉
Planets
4
Luminosity
0.0146 ☉

Published by the NASA Exoplanet Archive. This world’s temperature and habitability score are computed from this star’s measured luminosity, not from a stand-in for its class.

K2-72 b0.040 AU1.3 M⊕
K2-72 d0.050 AU1.0 M⊕
K2-72 c0.078 AU1.6 M⊕
K2-72 e0.11 AUYou are here2.2 M⊕
Habitable zone

Star and planets drawn to scale: the star is 28 times as wide as K2-72 e, so only its edge is in view. Orbits spaced as in the star system view.

K2-72 e is a planet a little larger than Earth that orbits within the habitable zone of its star, the range of distances where liquid water could last on a surface. It is the outermost of four planets around K2-72, a red dwarf about 220 light-years away, and passes in front of the star every 24.2 days.

Surface. Rocky surface with continents, oceans, and active plate tectonics. Diverse biomes if life present.

✓ Conditions could support life. This planet’s modelled conditions could support biological processes: stable temperatures, liquid water and the chemistry life as we know it needs. That makes life possible, not present.

Earth Like
Life possibleMagnetic FieldModerate Activity
K2-72 e has a balanced composition with all CHNOPS elements, proper mass (2.2x Earth), and sits in the habitable zone at 0.11 AU.
Earth-like planets have the perfect combination of composition, temperature, mass, and magnetic field to potentially support complex life as we know it.
Classification Criteria:
✓ All CHNOPS elements present (C, H, N, O, P, S)✓ Mass: 2.2x Earth (0.5-2.0x range)✓ Temperature: 305K (250-320K range)✓ Magnetic field present✓ Distance: 0.11 AU (habitable zone)

Reading K2-72 e’s atmosphere

Dominant elements: O, Si, Fe, N, H, CThis is what a telescope would measure while K2-72 e crosses in front of its star: starlight passes through the atmosphere and spreads into a rainbow band. Each dark line marks a wavelength the atmosphere absorbed.Every element absorbs its own signature wavelengths — hydrogen always darkens the same two spots, calcium another pair, and so on. Astronomers match the lines in a real spectrum against a library of these signatures to say what an atmosphere is made of, light-years away, without ever visiting. A deeper line generally means more of that element is present.K2-72 e sits about 217 light-years away, found by the transit method. Most catalogued distances trace back to parallax: as Earth orbits the Sun, a nearby star appears to shift very slightly against the distant background stars, and the size of that shift gives its distance directly.
Further reading
ExoplanetsSara Seager (editor)The field's standard reference: how planets are found, how they form, and what their atmospheres are made of.The Planet FactoryElizabeth TaskerHow planets are made, and why so few of them come out like Earth.The Little Book of ExoplanetsJoshua WinnHow these worlds are found, and what a measurement can honestly tell us.Envisioning ExoplanetsMichael CarrollWhat these worlds might look like from the ground, painted from the same measurements this page renders.
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Habitability ScoreHighly Habitable
94
Contributing Factors
temperature100
Optimal temperature range for liquid water and life
atmosphere100

Nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere with trace CO₂, water vapor, and argon

Nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere - breathable and protective
water90
Good water content
magnetic Field100
Magnetic field provides radiation protection
geology90
Active geology recycles nutrients and drives carbon cycle
Organic Chemistry80
Core organic elements (CHNO) present
rotation100
Optimal rotation period - balanced day/night cycle, moderate weather, and good heat distribution

Physical Properties

Mass
2.21x Earth (1.32e+25 kg)
Radius
1.30x Earth (8,299 km)
This planet: 1.30× Earth radiusEarth: 1× (baseline)
Surface Gravity
1.30x Earth (12.8 m/s²)
Surface Temperature
305 K (32 °C / 89 °F)
Rotation Period
24.0 hours/day
This planet: 24 h/dayEarth: 24 h/day

Elemental Composition

How TerraForge built this world

K2-72 e, from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (found 2016). Measured: 2.21 Earth masses, 0.106 AU, a 3360 K M-type star. Composition inferred from a measured bulk density of 1.03x Earth's at this size, suggesting roughly 7% water/ice by mass, with an assumed 24-hour day — rotation cannot be measured for exoplanets.

A dark ringed planet hanging over the horizon of a rocky moon, its rings lit by a distant sun

New: Stand on Your Moons 🌒

A planet's surface view isn't the only ground any more. Press the surface button on a planet with moons and it asks where to stand: the planet itself, or any moon still in orbit, each tagged with what it became — ocean, ice, carbon, volcanic. Every moon gets its own ground and sky from its own physics: airless rock under a black sky, ice cracked by geysers over a hidden sea, sulfur plains shaking with eruptions, or orange haze you can't see the sun through. And hanging over the horizon, there's the planet you built.

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