Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2024

HD 48948 c

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange HD 48948, located approximately 55.1 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.60 Earth radii
  • A mass of 7.27 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.08 g
  • An orbital period of 38.060 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.1951 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 553 K (280 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 55.13 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.446
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 972,295 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

2 siblings around HD 48948

HD 48948 c 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
HD 48948 b Sub-Neptune 2.06 4.88 7.340 957 2024
HD 48948 c this Sub-Neptune 2.60 7.27 38.060 553 2024
HD 48948 d Sub-Neptune 3.24 10.59 151.920 349 2024

HD 48948 c Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.60 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.232 R♃
Mass
7.27 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.023 M♃
Density
2.27 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.08 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.446
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2024
Method Radial Velocity
Facility Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
Telescope 3.58 m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1017of 1978

top 51.4%

This planet

2.60R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth HD 48948 c Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.6011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.007.27317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.271.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.082.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0015.500.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Minimum mass (M sin i) 7.270 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 48948

HIP

HIP 32769

TIC

TIC 88228576

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 1003351437484254464

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 1003351437484254464

System

HD 48948

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.600 R⊕ · percentile 48 / cohort 1978
Mass 7.270 M⊕ · percentile 44 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 38.06 d · percentile 79 / cohort 1946
Distance 16.90 pc · percentile 3 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.446 · percentile 61 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
38.060 days
Semi-major axis
0.1951 AU
Eccentricity
0.550
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 38.06 Earth days (10.4% of a terrestrial year) on a highly eccentric trajectory at a mean orbital distance of 0.1951 AU.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

61.790

RV semi-amplitude (K)

1.480 m/s

Long. of periastron (ω)

101.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

11.50000

Eq. Temperature

553K

(280 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

15.50

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.446

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Dalal et al. 2024

Instrument

HARPS-N Spectrograph

Publication

2024-07

Observation locale

Ground

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2024 at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (2 shown).

Host System: HD 48948

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,593 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

11.48 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.679 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.686 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.21

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.610 dex

Stellar density

3.073 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-53.00 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

2.00 km/s

Rotation period

43.45 days

Activity index (log R'HK)

-4.915

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
16.90 parsec
Light-years 55.13 ly
V-band magnitude
8.58 mag
Voyager-speed travel 972,295 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 7 bands

5.69.89.80B8.58V8.11Gaia7.38TESS6.34J5.73H5.61K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

59.128 mas

Total Proper Motion

482.492 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

253.25 mas/yr

PM Declination

410.69 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.107 · y = 0.483 · z = 0.869

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 102.48981° · Dec 60.33731°

Galactic ℓ, b

155.499° · 23.165°

Ecliptic λ, β

97.722° · 37.233°

HTM-20 index

1077153194

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