Kepler-9b is one of the first planets discovered outside the solar system (exoplanets) by NASA's Kepler Mission.

The star, in turn, was named for the Kepler Mission, a NASA project designed to search for Earth-like planets.

[2] Initial estimates for Kepler-9b's mass were refined by the W. M. Keck Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

[6] To compare, planet Mercury's average distance from the Sun is .387 AU and takes 87.969 days to complete an orbit.

[8] Alycia Weinberger of the Carnegie Institution has stated that the Kepler-9 gas giants probably formed further away from the star than they are, and the appearance of the orbital resonance phenomenon may help explain the history of their inward migration.