About this world
Kepler-26 b is a sub-Neptune orbiting Kepler-26, a cool red dwarf (type M0V) 1.09 thousand light-years from Earth. It is about 2.8 times the size of Earth and holds 5.1 Earth masses. It completes an orbit every 12.3 days at 0.086 AU from its star, closer than Mercury is to the Sun.
Its equilibrium temperature is about 431 K (158 °C): far too hot for liquid water on its surface. At its size it almost certainly keeps a deep envelope of hydrogen and helium.
It was discovered in 2011 by transit with Kepler. A planet crosses its star and dims it by a tiny, periodic fraction. Kepler-26 has 4 known planets; the others are Kepler-26 d, Kepler-26 c and Kepler-26 e.