This table has been retired and is no longer being updated. Please use the Planetary Systems (PS) or Planetary System Composite Parameters (PSCompPars) Tables for the most current data, and refer to the documentation for data column definitions. More details about the retired and new tables are in the Developing a More Integrated NASA Exoplanet Archive page.



Composite Planet Data Table Definitions

Like the Confirmed Planet table, the Composite Planet Data table provides a collection of stellar and planetary parameters for confirmed exoplanets, one row per planet. However, in this case, where there are gaps in the parameters for a given planet (usually because the default literature reference did not provide them), the table automatically selects the data from other available literature references for the same planet. The selections are based on a hierarchy of selection criteria (i.e., best precision, most recent). For a definition of default parameters, see the Exoplanet Criteria page.

Users should treat the Composite Planet Data table with caution: data may not be self-consistent if drawn from multiple sources! See About the Composite Planet Data Table for more information. To browse a table containing all planet and host star solutions, see the alpha release of the Planetary Systems table.

This page lists and defines all of the data columns in the Composite Planet Data (compositepars) table that can be returned through the Exoplanet Archive that can be returned through the Exoplanet Archive's application programming interface (API), or when using the Composite Planet Data interactive table. These column names can also be specified in pre-filtered table queries.

There are similar documents for other data sets. The full list is in the API User Guide in the Data Available Through the API section (click on the documentation links).

Some data include more specific information that can also be retrieved as separate calls in the API. These include:

  • Uncertainties (positive and negative)
  • Limits

The stellar parameters listed for circumbinary planets (e.g. Kepler-16) are for the primary star.

Digital Object Identifier

If you use archive data or services for your research, please include the following Digital Object Identifier (DOI) as part of your acknowledgment:

DOI 10.26133/NEA2

See Acknowledging the Archive for dataset-specific language. See the full list of NASA Exoplanet Archive DOIs for other data sets and services.

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Planet Parameters

Stellar Columns

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Planet Parameters

Database
Column Name
Table Label Description Uncertainties Column
(positive +)
(negative -)
Displayed String Name Limit Column
fpl_hostname† Host Name Stellar name most commonly used in the literature.      
fpl_letter† Planet Letter Letter assigned to the planetary component of a planetary system.      
fpl_name† Planet Name Planet name most commonly used in the literature.      
fpl_discmethod† Discovery Method Method by which the planet was first identified.      
fpl_disc† Year of Discovery Year the planet was discovered      
fpl_controvflag† Controversial Flag Flag indicating whether the confirmation status of a planet has been questioned in the published literature (1=yes, 0=no)      
fpl_orbper† Orbital Period (days) Time the planet takes to make a complete orbit around the host star or system. (+) fpl_orbpererr1
(-) fpl_orbpererr2
fpl_orbperstr fpl_orbperlim
fpl_smax† Orbit Semi-Major Axis (au) The longest radius of an elliptic orbit, or, for exoplanets detected via gravitational microlensing or direct imaging, the projected separation in the plane of the sky. (+) fpl_smaxerr1
(-) fpl_smaxerr2
fpl_smaxstr fpl_smaxlim
fpl_eccen† Eccentricity Amount by which the orbit of the planet deviates from a perfect circle. (+) fpl_eccenerr1
(-) fpl_eccenerr2
fpl_eccenstr fpl_orbeccenlim
fpl_bmasse† Planet Mass or M*sin(i) [Earth mass] Best planet mass estimate available, in order of preference: Mass, M*sin(i)/sin(i), or M*sin(i), depending on availability, and measured in Earth masses. See Planet Mass M*sin(i) Provenance (fpl_bmassprov) to determine which measure applies. (+) fpl_bmasseerr1
(-) fpl_bmasseerr2
fpl_bmassestr fpl_bmasselim
fpl_bmassj Planet Mass or M*sin(i) [Jupiter mass] Best planet mass estimate available, in order of preference: Mass, M*sin(i)/sin(i), or M*sin(i), depending on availability, and measured in Jupiter masses. See Planet Mass M*sin(i) Provenance (fpl_bmassprov) to determine which measure applies. (+) fpl_bmassjerr1
(-) fpl_bmassjerr2
fpl_bmassjstr fpl_bmassjlim
fpl_bmassprov† Planet Mass or M*sin(i) Provenance Provenance of the measurement of the best mass. Options are: Mass, M*sin(i)/sin(i), and M*sini.      
fpl_rade† Planet Radius [Earth radii] Length of a line segment from the center of the planet to its surface, measured in units of radius of the Earth. (+) fpl_radeerr1
(-) fpl_radeerr2
fpl_radestr fpl_radelim
fpl_radj Planet Radius[Jupiter radii] Length of a line segment from the center of the planet to its surface, measured in units of radius of Jupiter.
(+) fpl_radjerr1
(-) fpl_radjerr2
fpl_radjstr fpl_radjlim
fpl_rads Planet Radius [Solar] Length of a line segment from the center of the planet to its surface, measured in units of radius of the Sun. (+) fpl_radserr1
(-) fpl_radserr2
fpl_radsstr fpl_radslim
fpl_dens† Planet Density (g/cm**3) Amount of mass per unit of volume of the planet. (+) fpl_denserr1
(-) fpl_denserr2
fpl_densstr fpl_denslim
fpl_eqt† Planet Equilibrium Temperature [K] The equilibrium temperature of the planet as modeled by a black body heated only by its host star, or for directly imaged planets, the effective temperature of the planet required to match the measured luminosity if the planet were a black body. (+) fpl_eqterr1
(-) fpl_eqterr2
fpl_eqtstr fpl_eqtlim
fpl_insol† Insolation Flux [Earth flux] Insolation flux is another way to give the equilibrium temperature. It's given in units relative to those measured for the Earth from the Sun. (+) fpl_insolerr1
(-) fpl_insolerr2
fpl_insolstr fpl_insollim
fpl_tranflag Planet Transit Flag Flag indicating if the planet transits its host star (1=yes, 0=no)      
fpl_cbflag Circumbinary Flag Flag indicating whether the planet orbits a binary system (1=yes, 0=no)      

Default column: These columns display in the interactive table when the table is first loaded, and when Reset Filters is clicked. In API queries, data for all default columns are returned when no columns are specified in the query. For more information about defaults, see the FAQ.

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Stellar Columns

Database
Column Name
Table Label Description Uncertainties Column
(positive +)
(negative -)
Displayed String Name Limit Column
fpl_snum Number of Stars in System A link to either the paper that published this value, or an explanation of the archive's calculation that produced this value.      
ra_str† RA [sexagesimal] Right Ascension of the planetary system in sexagesimal format.      
dec_str† Dec [sexagesimal] Declination of the planetary system in sexagesimal notation.      
ra RA [decimal degrees] Right Ascension of the planetary system in decimal degrees.      
dec Dec [decimal degrees] Declination of the planetary system in decimal degrees.      
fst_dist† Distance [pc] Distance to the planetary system in units of parsecs.

(+) fst_disterr1

(-) fst_disterr2

fst_diststr fst_distlim
fst_optmag† Optical Magnitude [mag] Brightness of the host star as measured using V (Johnson), Gaia G-band, or Kepler-band in units of magnitudes.

fst_optmagerr

fst_optmagstr fst_optmaglim
fst_optmagband† Optical Magnitude Band Band corresponding to the Optical Magnitude. Options are: V (Johnson), G (Gaia), or Kepler-band.

 

   
fst_nirmag† Near-IR Magnitude [mag] Brightness of the host star as measured using the Ks (2MASS) or the J (2MASS) in units of magnitudes.

fst_nirmagerr

fst_nirmagstr fst_nirmaglim
fst_nirmagband† Near-IR Magnitude Band Band corresponding to the Near-IR Magnitude. Options are: Ks (2MASS) or J (2MASS).

 

   
fst_spt† Spectral Type Classification of the star based on their spectral characteristics following the Morgan-Keenan system. fst_spterr fst_sptstr fst_sptlim
fst_teff† Effective Temperature [K] Temperature of the star as modeled by a black body emitting the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation.

(+) fst_tefferr1

(-) fst_tefferr2

fst_teffstr fst_tefflim
fst_logg† Stellar Surface Gravity [log10(cm/s**2)] Gravitational acceleration experienced at the stellar surface. (+) fst_loggerr1
(-) fst_loggerr2
fst_loggstr fst_logglim
fst_lum† Stellar Luminosity [log(Solar luminosity)] Amount of energy emitted by a star per unit time, measured in units of solar luminosities. (+) fst_lumerr1
(-) fst_lumerr2
fst_lumstr fst_lumlim
fst_mass† Stellar Mass [Solar mass] Amount of matter contained in the star, measured in units of masses of the Sun.

(+) fst_masserr1

(-) fst_masserr2

fst_massstr fst_masslim
fst_rad† Stellar Radius [Solar radii] Length of a line segment from the center of the star to its surface, measured in units of radius of the Sun.

(+) fst_raderr1

(-) fst_raderr2

fst_radstr fst_radsim
fst_met† Stellar Metallicity [dex] Measurement of the metal content of the photosphere of the star as compared to the hydrogen content. (+) fst_meterr1
(-) fst_meterr2
fst_metstr fst_metlim
fst_metratio† Metallicity Ratio Ratio for the Metallicity Value ([Fe/H] denotes iron abundance, [M/H] refers to a general metal content)      
fst_age† Stellar Age [Gyr] The age of the host star. (+) fst_ageerr1
(-) fst_ageerr2
fst_agestr fst_agelim

Default column: These columns display in the interactive table when the table is first loaded, and when Reset Filters is clicked. In API queries, data for all default columns are returned when no columns are specified in the query. For more information about defaults, see the FAQ.



Last updated: 31 July 2020