An international team of astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to help make a precise measurement of the mass of a planet outside our solar system. The Hubble results show that the planet is 1.89 to 2.4 times as massive as Jupiter, our solar system's largest orbiting body. Previous estimates, about which there are some uncertainties, place the planet's mass at a much wider range: between 1.9 and 100 times that of Jupiter's. The planet, called Gliese 876b, orbits the star Gliese 876. It is only the second planet outside our solar system for which astronomers have determined a precise mass.
The planetary system Gliese 876 hosts at least 4 planets.
System parameters | |
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Primary system name | Gliese 876 |
Alternative system names | N/A |
Right ascension | 22 53 16.7323 |
Declination | -14 15 49.3034 |
Distance [parsec] | 4.69 |
Distance [lightyears] | 15.30 |
Number of stars in system | 1 |
Number of planets in system | 4 |
This list shows all planetary and stellar components in the system. It gives a quick overview of the hierarchical architecture.
This table lists all planets in the system Gliese 876.
Gliese 876 b | Gliese 876 c | Gliese 876 d | Gliese 876 e | |
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Alternative planet names | GJ 876 b, Gj 876 b, Gl 876 b, Gaia DR2 2603090003484152064 b, GJ 876 A b, TYC 5819-1255-1 b, HIP 113020 b | GJ 876 c, Gj 876 c, Gl 876 c, Gaia DR2 2603090003484152064 c, GJ 876 A c, TYC 5819-1255-1 c, HIP 113020 c | GJ 876 d, Gj 876 d, Gl 876 d, Gaia DR2 2603090003484152064 d, GJ 876 A d, TYC 5819-1255-1 d, HIP 113020 d | GJ 876 e, Gj 876 e, Gl 876 e, Gaia DR2 2603090003484152064 e, GJ 876 A e, TYC 5819-1255-1 e, HIP 113020 e |
Description | Gliese 876 is a red dwarf only 15 light years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. The orbits of the outer three planets are locked in a Laplace reasonance. This resonance is also present in the moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede. This strong dynamical interaction leads to interesting conclusions about the formation history of the system. It is a very strong indication that the planets migrated in the protoplanetary disk to their current position and got locked into mean motion resonances during that process. | Gliese 876 is a red dwarf only 15 light years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. The orbits of the outer three planets are locked in a Laplace reasonance. This resonance is also present in the moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede. This strong dynamical interaction leads to interesting conclusions about the formation history of the system. It is a very strong indication that the planets migrated in the protoplanetary disk to their current position and got locked into mean motion resonances during that process. | Gliese 876 is a red dwarf only 15 light years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. The orbits of the outer three planets are locked in a Laplace reasonance. This resonance is also present in the moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede. This strong dynamical interaction leads to interesting conclusions about the formation history of the system. It is a very strong indication that the planets migrated in the protoplanetary disk to their current position and got locked into mean motion resonances during that process. | N/A |
Lists | Confirmed planets | |||
Mass [Mjup] | 2.67±0.05 | 0.843±0.019 | 0.022 | 0.054 |
Mass [Mearth] | 849 | 268±6 | 6.9 | 17.2 |
Radius [Rjup] | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Radius [Rearth] | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Orbital period [days] | 61.087 | 30.077 | 1.9379±0.0000 | 124.7 |
Semi-major axis [AU] | 0.2186±0.0000 | 0.1360±0.0000 | 0.0218±0.0000 | 0.334 |
Eccentricity | 0.0340 | 0.254±0.003 | 0.11±0.05 | 0.03±0.03 |
Equilibrium temperature [K] | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Discovery method | RV | |||
Discovery year | 2000 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 |
Last updated [yy/mm/dd] | 15/06/08 |
This table lists all stars in the system Gliese 876.
Gliese 876 | |
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Alternative star names | GJ 876, Gaia DR2 2603090003484152064, GJ 876 A, TYC 5819-1255-1, HIP 113020 |
Mass [MSun] | 0.370 |
Radius [RSun] | 0.376±0.006 |
Age [Gyr] | N/A |
Metallicity [Fe/H] | 0.1900 |
Temperature [K] | 3129±19 |
Spectral type | M4 V |
Visual magnitude | 10.17 |
The following plot shows the approximate sizes of the planets in this system The Solar System planets are shown as a comparison. Note that unless the radius has been determined through a transit observation, this is only an approximation (see Lissauer et al. 2011b).
The following plot shows the approximate location of the planets in this system with respect to the habitable zone (green) and the size of the star (red). This is only an estimate, using the star's spectral type and mass. Note that if no green band is shown in the plot, then the planet's orbit is far outside the habitable zone. The equations of Selsis, Kasting et al are used to draw the inner and outer boundaries.
This table lists all links which are relevant to this particular system. Note that this is just a summary. More references to the scientific publications and comments can be found in the commit messages. To see these, head over the github or directly go to the git blame output of this system. In the left column of the output you can see the commit message corresponding to each parameter. It also lists the date of the last commit and the person making the changes. Within the commit message, you will find a link to the scientific publication where the data is taken from. Note that this is a new feature and not all system parameters might have a reference associated with it yet. Please help making this catalogue better and contribute data or references!