Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2012

HD 77338 b

A neptune-like orbiting the k-type orange HD 77338, located approximately 149.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 4.12 Earth radii
  • A mass of 15.90 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.94 g
  • An orbital period of 5.736 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0600 AU
  • Distance from Earth 149.82 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.535
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 2,642,071 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Context from the literature

HD 77338 is a star with a close orbiting exoplanet companion in the southern constellation of Pyxis. It is too dim to be visible with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 8.63. The system is located at a distance of 149 light years, and it is drifting further away with a heliocentric radial velocity of 8.2 km/s.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

HD 77338 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
4.12 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.368 R♃
Mass
15.90 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.050 M♃
Density
1.25 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.94 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Neptune-like

ESI Score 0.535
HZ Position Unknown
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2012
Method Radial Velocity
Facility La Silla Observatory
Telescope 3.6 m ESO Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#542of 574

top 94.3%

This planet

4.12R⊕

Neptune-like median

6.39R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth HD 77338 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.004.1211.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0015.90317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.251.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.942.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 15.900 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 19.070 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 77338

HIP

HIP 44291

TIC

TIC 37533318

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 5649661592466640000

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 5649661592466640000

System

HD 77338

Percentile among Neptune-like cohort

Radius 4.120 R⊕ · percentile 5 / cohort 574
Mass 15.900 M⊕ · percentile 12 / cohort 574
Orbital period 5.74 d · percentile 23 / cohort 524
Distance 45.94 pc · percentile 14 / cohort 572
ESI 0.535 · percentile 97 / cohort 574

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
5.736 days
Semi-major axis
0.0600 AU
Eccentricity
0.090
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 5.74 Earth days (1.6% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0600 AU.

Eq. Temperature

 

Insolation (S⊕)

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.535

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

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

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Jenkins et al. 2013

Instrument

HARPS Spectrograph

Publication

2013-04

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: HD 77338

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,341 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.970 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.370 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.32

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.600 dex

Stellar density

1.461 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

8.21 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

2.33 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
45.94 parsec
Light-years 149.82 ly
V-band magnitude
8.63 mag
Voyager-speed travel 2,642,071 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

6.79.49.41B8.63V8.41Gaia7.90TESS7.22J6.91H6.76K6.71W16.75W26.77W36.66W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

21.741 mas

Total Proper Motion

274.527 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

39.87 mas/yr

PM Declination

-271.62 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.641 · y = 0.635 · z = -0.431

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 135.30225° · Dec -25.52823°

Galactic ℓ, b

251.364° · 13.552°

Ecliptic λ, β

147.353° · -40.381°

HTM-20 index

7507450

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