Stellar Mass Estimation of Kepler Exoplanet Host Stars Using Kepler's Third Law with Monte Carlo Uncertainty Analysis
Abstract
Host star masses for four confirmed exoplanets discovered by the Kepler mission (Kepler-10b, Kepler-186f, Kepler-62f, Kepler-452b) were calculated using orbital period T and semi-major axis a from the NASA Exoplanet Archive.The Newtonian form of Kepler’s third law was applied:M = 4π2a3GT 2where G = 6.67430 × 10−11 m3kg−1s−2.A Monte Carlo simulation (1000 samples) with ±1% assumed measurement uncertaintyin both T and a yielded approximately 3.6% propagated uncertainty in the stellar mass,consistent with analytical error propagation from the a3/T 2 dependence.The host star of Kepler-452b was found to have a mass of 1.03 M⊙, very close to thesolar value.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Stellar
planetary
and galactic studies
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Publication date
- 6 January 2026
- Document type
- Preprint