Upsilon Andromedae e

Upsilon Andromedae e
Extrasolar planet List of extrasolar planets
Parent star
Star Upsilon Andromedae A
Constellation Andromeda
Right ascension (α) 01h 36m 47.8s
Declination (δ) +41° 24′ 20″
Apparent magnitude (mV) 4.09
Distance 44.0 ± 0.1 ly
(13.49 ± 0.03 pc)
Spectral type F8V
Mass (m) 1.28 M
Radius (r) 1.480 ± 0.087 R
Temperature (T) 6074 ± 13.1 K
Metallicity [Fe/H] 0
Age 3.3 Gyr
Orbital elements
Semimajor axis (a) 5.2456 ± 0.00067[1] AU
(784.7 Gm)
Periastron (q) 5.2175 ± 0.003 AU
(780.5 Gm)
Apastron (Q) 5.2738 ± 0.0029 AU
(788.9 Gm)
Eccentricity (e) 0.00536 ± 0.00044[1]
Orbital period (P) 3848.86 ± 0.74[1] d
(10.5374 y)
Argument of
periastron
(ω) 367.3 ± 2.3[1]°
Physical characteristics
Minimum mass (m sin i) 1.059 ± 0.028[1] MJ
Discovery information
Discovery date November 22, 2010 (announced)
December 2, 2010 (published)
Discoverer(s) Curiel et al.
Detection method Doppler spectroscopy
Discovery site Baja California
Discovery status Published[1]
Other designations
50 Andromedae e, Upsilon Andromedae Ae
Database references
Extrasolar Planets
Encyclopaedia
data
SIMBAD data

Upsilon Andromedae e is the outermost extrasolar planet orbiting the star Upsilon Andromedae in the constellation of Andromeda. This planet is more Jupiter-like than any other known exoplanet.

Discovery

This planet was discovered on November 22, 2010, but the discovery paper was not released until December 2.[1] It is the fourth time in 2010 that a fourth planet has been discovered in a planetary system, the others being Gliese 876 e, HD 10180 e, and HR 8799 e; in no other year so far during the exoplanet era has more than one fourth planet been discovered.

Astronomers originally thought that this planet could not exist because it would have made the planetary system unstable and would have been ejected.[2] But in 2007, an island region of stability was reported where a fourth planet could exist.[3]

Characteristics

Upsilon Andromedae e is a so-called “Jupiter-twin” because it has a mass slightly greater than Jupiter's and orbits at a similar distance as Jupiter from the Sun, at precisely 5.2456 AU compared to 5.2043 AU for Jupiter. Although only the minimum mass is determined since inclination is not yet known, its true mass might be much greater. It takes over a decade to orbit the star. At an eccentricity of 0.00536, the planet's orbit is more circular than that of any of the planets in our solar system.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Curiel, S. et al. (2011). "A fourth planet orbiting υ Andromedae". Astronomy & Astrophysics 525: A78. Bibcode 2011A&A...525A..78C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201015693. http://www.aanda.org/index.php?option=com_article&access=standard&Itemid=129&url=/articles/aa/abs/2011/01/aa15693-10/aa15693-10.html. 
  2. ^ Ford, E. et al. (2005). "Planet-planet scattering in the upsilon Andromedae system". Nature 434 (7035): 873–876. arXiv:astro-ph/0502441. Bibcode 2005Natur.434..873F. doi:10.1038/nature03427. PMID 15829958. 
  3. ^ Rory Barnes; Richard Greenberg (2008). "Extrasolar Planet Interactions". arXiv:0801.3226v1 [astro-ph].