HD 20868 b
Encyclopedia
HD 20868 b is an extrasolar planet
located approximately 159 light-year
s away in the constellation
of Fornax
, orbiting the 10th magnitude
K-type subgiant
star
HD 20868
. This planet has a minimum mass
of 1.99 times more than Jupiter
and orbits at a distance of 0.947 AU
. This planet takes 380.85 days or 12.5 months to revolve around the star with an eccentricity of 0.75, one of the most eccentric of any known extrasolar planets. At periastron, the distance is 0.237 AU and at apastron, the distance is 1.66 AU.
This planet was discovered on October 26, 2008 by Moutou et al. using the HARPS spectrograph on ESO’s 3.6 meter telescope installed at La Silla Observatory
in Atacama desert
, Chile
.
Extrasolar planet
An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of such planets have been identified as of . It is now known that a substantial fraction of stars have planets, including perhaps half of all Sun-like stars...
located approximately 159 light-year
Light-year
A light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...
s away in the constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
of Fornax
Fornax
Fornax is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for furnace. It was created in the 18th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations.-History:Fornax was formed by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1756...
, orbiting the 10th magnitude
Apparent magnitude
The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
K-type subgiant
Subgiant star
A subgiant star is a star that is slightly brighter than a normal main-sequence star of the same spectral class, but not as bright as true giant stars...
star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
HD 20868
HD 20868
|- bgcolor="#FFFAFA"HD 20868 is an low-mass K type star in the southern constellation Fornax. It is a 10th magnitude star at a distance of about 151 light years from Earth.- Planetary system :...
. This planet has a minimum mass
Minimum mass
In astronomy, minimum mass is the lower-bound calculated mass of observed objects such as planets, stars and binary systems, nebulae, and black holes. Minimum mass is a widely cited statistic for extrasolar planets...
of 1.99 times more than Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
and orbits at a distance of 0.947 AU
Astronomical unit
An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance....
. This planet takes 380.85 days or 12.5 months to revolve around the star with an eccentricity of 0.75, one of the most eccentric of any known extrasolar planets. At periastron, the distance is 0.237 AU and at apastron, the distance is 1.66 AU.
This planet was discovered on October 26, 2008 by Moutou et al. using the HARPS spectrograph on ESO’s 3.6 meter telescope installed at La Silla Observatory
La Silla Observatory
La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory organisation, and several others are partly maintained by ESO...
in Atacama desert
Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
.
See also
- BD-17°63 bBD-17°63 bBD-17°63 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 113 light-years away in the constellation of Cetus, orbiting the 10th magnitude K-type main sequence star BD-17°63. This planet has a minimum mass of 5.1 MJ and orbits at a distance of 1.34 astronomical units from the star. The distance...
- HD 131664HD 131664HD 131664 is an 8th magnitude G-type main sequence star located approximately 181 light-years away in the constellation of Apus.On October 26, 2008, a brown dwarf was discovered along with five other planets...
- HD 143361 bHD 143361 bHD 143361 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 194 light-years away in the constellation of Norma, orbiting the 9th magnitude G-type main sequence star HD 143361. This planet has a minimum mass of 3.0 times that of Jupiter. Because the inclination is not known, the true mass is not known...
- HD 145377 bHD 145377 bHD 145377 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 188 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius, orbiting the 8th magnitude G-type main sequence star HD 145377. This planet orbits at a distance of 0.45 astronomical units and takes 104 days to revolve around the star with an...
- HD 153950 bHD 153950 bHD 153950 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 162 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius, orbiting the 7th magnitude F-type main sequence star HD 153950. This planet has mass about 2.73 times that of Jupiter, but because the inclination is not known, the mass value is only...
- HD 20782 bHD 20782 bHD 20782 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 117 light-years away in the constellation of Fornax, orbiting the star HD 20782. This planet orbits in a highly eccentric orbit with a semi-major axis of 1.36 AU. The planet's extremely high eccentricity is comparable to that of HD 80606 b....
- HD 43848HD 43848HD 43848 is a 9th magnitude G-type main sequence star located approximately 121 light-years away in the constellation of Columba. The star is smaller and less massive than the Sun....
- HD 48265 bHD 48265 bHD 48265 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 285 light-years away in the constellation of Puppis, orbiting the 8th magnitude G-type main sequence star HD 48265. This planet has a minimum mass of 1.2 times that of Jupiter. Because the inclination is not known, the true mass is not known...
- HD 73267 bHD 73267 bHD 73267 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 179 light-years away in the constellation of Pyxis, orbiting the 9th magnitude G-type main sequence star HD 73267...