Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2020

LTT 9779 b

A neptune-like orbiting the g-type yellow (sun-like) LTT 9779, located approximately 262.4 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 4.72 Earth radii
  • A mass of 29.32 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.32 g
  • An orbital period of 0.792 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0168 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,978 K (1705 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 262.35 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.093
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 4,626,561 years

LTT 9779 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
4.72 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.421 R♃
Mass
29.32 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.092 M♃
Density
1.54 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.32 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Neptune-like

ESI Score 0.093
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2020
Method Transit
Facility Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
Telescope 0.1 m TESS Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#426of 574

top 74.0%

This planet

4.72R⊕

Neptune-like median

6.39R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth LTT 9779 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.004.7211.21
Mass (M⊕)1.0029.32317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.541.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.322.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.001,781.160.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 29.320 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HIP

HIP 117883

TIC

TIC 183985250

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2307504062045842688

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2307504062045842688

System

LTT 9779

Percentile among Neptune-like cohort

Radius 4.720 R⊕ · percentile 25 / cohort 574
Mass 29.320 M⊕ · percentile 48 / cohort 574
Orbital period 0.79 d · percentile 0 / cohort 524
Distance 80.44 pc · percentile 22 / cohort 572
ESI 0.093 · percentile 2 / cohort 574

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
0.792 days
Semi-major axis
0.0168 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
76.39 °

Year Length

A year here lasts roughly 19 hours long on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0168 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.156 %

Duration

0.366 h

Rp / R★

0.045500

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,458,354.2143

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 1,562 ppm lasting ≈ 0.37 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.045500

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

3.877

RV semi-amplitude (K)

19.650 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,354.2143

Long. of periastron (ω)

90.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.20900

Eq. Temperature

1,978K

(1705 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

1,781.16

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.093

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the dayside is scorched.

Detection Signatures

Transit photometry

A transit dip has been observed from at least one telescope.

Radial velocity

Stellar wobble has been measured spectroscopically.

Orbital-brightness modulation

Host star brightness varies with the planet's orbit.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Jenkins et al. 2020

Instrument

TESS CCD Array

Publication

2020-09

Observation locale

Space

Host System: LTT 9779

Spectral Class

G-type yellow (Sun-like)

Effective Temperature

5,443 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.00 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.949 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.020 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.27

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.350 dex

Stellar density

1.810 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-10.63 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

1.06 km/s

Rotation period

45.00 days

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
80.44 parsec
Light-years 262.35 ly
V-band magnitude
9.79 mag
Voyager-speed travel 4,626,561 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

7.810.610.58B9.79V9.60Gaia9.10TESS8.45J8.15H8.02K7.94W18.01W27.98W37.84W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

12.403 mas

Total Proper Motion

257.265 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

247.62 mas/yr

PM Declination

-69.80 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.792 · y = -0.018 · z = -0.611

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 358.66888° · Dec -37.62822°

Galactic ℓ, b

348.065° · -74.101°

Ecliptic λ, β

341.834° · -33.562°

HTM-20 index

-1087343862

Observation Record

Photometric series

1

Transmission spectra

2

Emission spectra

1

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