Artist impression of 61 Vir b exoplanet
Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2009

61 Vir b

A sub-neptune orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) 61 Vir, located approximately 27.7 light-years from Earth.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · JohnVanVliet

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.11 Earth radii
  • A mass of 5.10 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.15 g
  • An orbital period of 4.215 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0502 AU
  • Distance from Earth 27.73 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.766
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 489,091 years

Context from the literature

61 Virginis b is an extrasolar planet, orbiting the 5th magnitude G-type star 61 Virginis, in Virgo. This planet has a minimum mass of 5.1 times that of Earth and is an example of a super-Earth planet. It orbits very close to the star, at a distance of 0.050201 AU with an eccentricity of 0.12. This planet was discovered on 14 December 2009 using the radial velocity method taken at Keck and Anglo-Australian Observatories.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

2 siblings around 61 Vir

61 Vir b shares its host star with 2 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
61 Vir b this Sub-Neptune 2.11 5.10 4.215 2009
61 Vir c Neptune-like 4.46 18.20 38.021 2009
61 Vir d Neptune-like 5.11 22.90 123.010 2009

61 Vir b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.11 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.188 R♃
Mass
5.10 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.016 M♃
Density
2.98 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.15 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.766
HZ Position Unknown
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2009
Method Radial Velocity
Facility Multiple Observatories
Telescope Multiple Telescopes

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1806of 1978

top 91.3%

This planet

2.11R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth 61 Vir b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.1111.21
Mass (M⊕)1.005.10317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.981.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.152.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Minimum mass (M sin i) 5.100 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 115617

HIP

HIP 64924

TIC

TIC 422478973

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3507879565090229888

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3507879565090229888

System

61 Vir

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.110 R⊕ · percentile 8 / cohort 1978
Mass 5.100 M⊕ · percentile 9 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 4.22 d · percentile 9 / cohort 1946
Distance 8.50 pc · percentile 1 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.766 · percentile 98 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
4.215 days
Semi-major axis
0.0502 AU
Eccentricity
0.120
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 4.22 Earth days (1.2% of a terrestrial year) on a mildly elliptical path at a mean orbital distance of 0.0502 AU.

Extended Orbital Architecture

RV semi-amplitude (K)

2.120 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,200.5970

Long. of periastron (ω)

105.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

5.90000

Eq. Temperature

 

Insolation (S⊕)

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.766

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Vogt et al. 2010

Instrument

Multiple Instruments

Publication

2010-01

Observation locale

Ground

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2009 at Multiple Observatories (3 shown).

Host System: 61 Vir

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,577 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

8.96 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.963 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.942 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.01

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.340 dex

Stellar density

1.449 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-8.20 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

1.90 km/s

Activity index (log R'HK)

-5.040

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
8.50 parsec
Light-years 27.73 ly
V-band magnitude
4.70 mag
Voyager-speed travel 489,091 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 12 bands

0.14.70.07B4.70V4.54Gaia4.09TESS3.97Ic3.33J2.97H2.96K2.14W12.79W23.09W32.99W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

117.573 mas

Total Proper Motion

1,508.842 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-1,070.81 mas/yr

PM Declination

-1,063.00 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.894 · y = -0.318 · z = -0.314

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 199.59646° · Dec -18.31577°

Galactic ℓ, b

311.852° · 44.089°

Ecliptic λ, β

205.001° · -9.304°

HTM-20 index

224855835

Observation Record

Photometric series

1

RV measurements

6

Stellar spectra

9

Wikipedia → Image: Wikimedia Commons · JohnVanVliet · CC BY-SA 3.0

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