Kepler-11e was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured.

Kepler-11e is most likely a gas giant like Neptune, having a density that is less than that of Saturn, the least dense planet in the Solar System.

At the time when Kepler-11 was first noted as a host to a potential transit event, the star was given the designation KOI-157.

[2] It was later assigned the name "Kepler-11" after the Kepler spacecraft, a NASA satellite tasked with discovering planets in transit of, or crossing in front of, their stars.

Metal-rich stars tend to have easily detectable planets[7] because higher metallicities tend to either facilitate the creation of gas giants or to promote planetary migration, in which the planet orbits more closely to its star.

[2] Because it isn't as close to its star as its sister planets Kepler-11b and Kepler-11c, the Kepler team suggests that its light density may come from a large hydrogen and helium atmosphere that has not been blown away by the stellar wind.

[1] In fact, formation models indicate that the planet has a gaseous envelope, somewhat less massive than 20% of it total mass, which account for ≈60% of its radius (or ≈90% of its volume).