TrES-3
Encyclopedia
TrES-3b is an extrasolar planet
orbiting the star GSC 03089-00929
. It has an orbital period of just 31 hours and is undergoing orbital decay
due to tidal effects
. It has nearly twice the mass of Jupiter
.
It is the third transiting
planet found by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey
. It was discovered in the constellation Hercules
about 10 degrees west of Vega
, the brightest star in the summer skies. Its mass was confirmed via radial velocity measurements of the host star, which showed the presence of a planet mass companion with the same period as the transits. The planet's home star is slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun. The orbital period is less than one and a third days, one of the shortest known.
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...
orbiting the star GSC 03089-00929
GSC 03089-00929
GSC 03089-00929 is a magnitude 12 star located approximately 1300 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. This star is a G type main sequence star that is similar to but slightly cooler than our sun....
. It has an orbital period of just 31 hours and is undergoing orbital decay
Orbital decay
Orbital decay is the process of prolonged reduction in the altitude of a satellite's orbit.This can be due to drag produced by an atmosphere due to frequent collisions between the satellite and surrounding air molecules. The drag experienced by the object is larger in the case of increased solar...
due to tidal effects
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
. It has nearly twice the mass of 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,...
.
It is the third transiting
Astronomical transit
The term transit or astronomical transit has three meanings in astronomy:* A transit is the astronomical event that occurs when one celestial body appears to move across the face of another celestial body, hiding a small part of it, as seen by an observer at some particular vantage point...
planet found by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey
Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey
The Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey or TrES, uses three 4-inch telescopes located at Lowell Observatory, Palomar Observatory, and the Canary Islands to locate exoplanets. It was made using the network of small, relatively inexpensive telescopes designed to look specifically for planets orbiting...
. It was discovered in the constellation Hercules
Hercules (constellation)
Hercules is a constellation named after Hercules, the Roman mythological hero adapted from the Greek hero Heracles. Hercules was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today...
about 10 degrees west of Vega
Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, the fifth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus...
, the brightest star in the summer skies. Its mass was confirmed via radial velocity measurements of the host star, which showed the presence of a planet mass companion with the same period as the transits. The planet's home star is slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun. The orbital period is less than one and a third days, one of the shortest known.