Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 1998

GJ 876 b

A gas giant orbiting the m-type red dwarf GJ 876, located approximately 15.2 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 13.30 Earth radii
  • A mass of 723.22 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 4.09 g
  • An orbital period of 61.117 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.2083 AU
  • Distance from Earth 15.25 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.376
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 268,905 years

3 siblings around GJ 876

GJ 876 b shares its host star with 3 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
GJ 876 d Sub-Neptune 2.51 6.83 1.938 2005
GJ 876 c Gas Giant 14.00 226.98 30.088 2000
GJ 876 b this Gas Giant 13.30 723.22 61.117 1998
GJ 876 e Sub-Neptune 3.92 14.60 124.260 2010

GJ 876 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
13.30 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.190 R♃
Mass
723.22 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
2.276 M♃
Density
1.69 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
4.09 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.376
HZ Position Unknown
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 1998
Method Radial Velocity
Facility Multiple Observatories
Telescope Multiple Telescopes

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#793of 1771

top 44.7%

This planet

13.30R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth GJ 876 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0013.3011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00723.22317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.691.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.004.092.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 723.224 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 760.900 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.
Computed mass 887.691 M⊕ Model-computed mass (e.g. from mass-radius relation).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HIP

HIP 113020

TIC

TIC 188580272

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2603090003484152064

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2603090003484152064

System

GJ 876

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 13.300 R⊕ · percentile 53 / cohort 1771
Mass 723.224 M⊕ · percentile 58 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 61.12 d · percentile 51 / cohort 1533
Distance 4.68 pc · percentile 0 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.376 · percentile 78 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
61.117 days
Semi-major axis
0.2083 AU
Eccentricity
0.032
Inclination
59.00 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 61.12 Earth days (16.7% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.2083 AU.

Extended Orbital Architecture

RV semi-amplitude (K)

214.000 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,453,055.9840

Long. of periastron (ω)

50.30°

Angular separation (arcsec)

44.60000

Eq. Temperature

 

Insolation (S⊕)

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.376

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Detection Signatures

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Astrometry

Positional wobble of the host star was measured.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Marcy et al. 1998

Instrument

Multiple Instruments

Publication

1998-10

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: GJ 876

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

3,294 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

1.00 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.300 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.320 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.21

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.872 dex

Stellar density

10.866 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-1.60 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

0.16 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
4.68 parsec
Light-years 15.25 ly
V-band magnitude
10.16 mag
Voyager-speed travel 268,905 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 13 bands

4.411.711.73B10.16V8.88Gaia9.13Kepler7.58TESS7.48Ic5.93J5.35H5.01K4.86W14.45W24.64W34.52W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

213.867 mas

Total Proper Motion

1,171.101 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

957.96 mas/yr

PM Declination

-673.64 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.928 · y = -0.278 · z = -0.246

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 343.32397° · Dec -14.26660°

Galactic ℓ, b

52.003° · -59.635°

Ecliptic λ, β

339.168° · -6.631°

HTM-20 index

-1428809485

Observation Record

Photometric series

3

RV measurements

4

Stellar spectra

13

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