Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

HD 42618 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) HD 42618, located approximately 79.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 3.89 Earth radii
  • A mass of 14.40 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.95 g
  • An orbital period of 149.610 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.5540 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 337 K (64 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 79.37 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.572
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 1,399,737 years

Context from the literature

HD 42618 is a well-studied star with an exoplanetary companion in the equatorial constellation of Orion. With an apparent visual magnitude of 6.85 it is too faint to be readily visible to the naked eye. This system is located at a distance of 79.6 light years from the Sun based on parallax measurements. It has a relatively high proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at an angular rate of 0.321″ per year. HD 42618 is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −53.5 km/s and is predicted to come as near as 42.6 light-years in around 297,000 years.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

HD 42618 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
3.89 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.347 R♃
Mass
14.40 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.045 M♃
Density
1.34 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.95 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.572
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2016
Method Radial Velocity
Facility Multiple Observatories
Telescope Multiple Telescopes

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#28of 1978

top 1.4%

This planet

3.89R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth HD 42618 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.003.8911.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0014.40317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.341.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.952.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.003.160.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Minimum mass (M sin i) 14.400 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 42618

HIP

HIP 29432

TIC

TIC 153289168

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3319126988068404096

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3319126988068404096

System

HD 42618

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 3.890 R⊕ · percentile 98 / cohort 1978
Mass 14.400 M⊕ · percentile 91 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 149.61 d · percentile 97 / cohort 1946
Distance 24.34 pc · percentile 6 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.572 · percentile 79 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
149.610 days
Semi-major axis
0.5540 AU
Eccentricity
0.190
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 149.61 Earth days (41.0% of a terrestrial year) on a mildly elliptical path at a mean orbital distance of 0.5540 AU.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

119.100

RV semi-amplitude (K)

1.890 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,170.6000

Long. of periastron (ω)

101.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

22.80000

Eq. Temperature

337K

(64 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

3.16

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.572

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — liquid water is physically possible with adequate atmospheric pressure.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Fulton et al. 2016

Instrument

Multiple Instruments

Publication

2016-10

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: HD 42618

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,727 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.72 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.999 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.015 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.09

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.440 dex

Stellar density

1.573 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-53.70 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

2.00 km/s

Activity index (log R'HK)

-4.940

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
24.34 parsec
Light-years 79.37 ly
V-band magnitude
6.87 mag
Voyager-speed travel 1,399,737 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 7 bands

5.37.57.50B6.87V6.68Gaia6.25TESS5.70J5.39H5.30K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

41.063 mas

Total Proper Motion

322.299 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

197.31 mas/yr

PM Declination

-254.85 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.052 · y = 0.992 · z = 0.118

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 93.00322° · Dec 6.78197°

Galactic ℓ, b

202.359° · -5.591°

Ecliptic λ, β

93.109° · -16.625°

HTM-20 index

-1463439828

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