Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2019

HD 20781 c

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange HD 20781, located approximately 117.3 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.17 Earth radii
  • A mass of 5.33 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.13 g
  • An orbital period of 13.891 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1004 AU
  • Distance from Earth 117.32 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.755
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 2,068,995 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Context from the literature

HD 20781 is a star which is part of a wide binary system with HD 20782. The companion star has a very large angular separation of 252 arcsec, corresponding to 9080 AU at the distance of HD 20782. Both stars possess their own planetary systems in S type orbits, with a total of five known planets around both stars. This is the first known example of planets being found orbiting both components of a wide binary system. HD 20781 has no noticeable starspot activity.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

3 siblings around HD 20781

HD 20781 c 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
HD 20781 b Rocky Terrestrial 1.21 1.93 5.314 2019
HD 20781 c this Sub-Neptune 2.17 5.33 13.891 2019
HD 20781 d Sub-Neptune 3.25 10.61 29.158 2019
HD 20781 e Sub-Neptune 3.83 14.03 85.507 2019

HD 20781 c Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.17 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.193 R♃
Mass
5.33 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.017 M♃
Density
2.87 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.13 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.755
HZ Position Unknown
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2019
Method Radial Velocity
Facility La Silla Observatory
Telescope 3.6 m ESO Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1720of 1978

top 86.9%

This planet

2.17R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth HD 20781 c Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.1711.21
Mass (M⊕)1.005.33317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.871.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.132.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Minimum mass (M sin i) 5.330 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 20781

HIP

HIP 15526

TIC

TIC 144503312

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 5060105892897388288

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 5060105897197110144

System

HD 20782

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.170 R⊕ · percentile 13 / cohort 1978
Mass 5.330 M⊕ · percentile 13 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 13.89 d · percentile 48 / cohort 1946
Distance 35.97 pc · percentile 9 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.755 · percentile 97 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
13.891 days
Semi-major axis
0.1004 AU
Eccentricity
0.090
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 13.89 Earth days (3.8% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.1004 AU.

Eq. Temperature

 

Insolation (S⊕)

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.755

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Insufficient insolation data. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Udry et al. 2019

Instrument

HARPS Spectrograph

Publication

2019-02

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: HD 20781

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,256 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.834 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.700 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.370 dex

Stellar density

1.962 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

40.31 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

1.10 km/s

Rotation period

46.80 days

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
35.97 parsec
Light-years 117.32 ly
V-band magnitude
8.48 mag
Voyager-speed travel 2,068,995 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 7 bands

6.69.29.24B8.48V8.24Gaia7.72TESS7.05J6.64H6.55K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

27.771 mas

Total Proper Motion

355.159 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

348.85 mas/yr

PM Declination

-66.66 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.563 · y = 0.672 · z = -0.482

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 50.01398° · Dec -28.78412°

Galactic ℓ, b

224.673° · -57.272°

Ecliptic λ, β

37.008° · -45.145°

HTM-20 index

-935964729

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