Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2008

WASP-12 b

A gas giant orbiting the f-type yellow-white WASP-12, located approximately 1,393.5 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 22.03 Earth radii
  • A mass of 467.21 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.96 g
  • An orbital period of 1.091 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0234 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,601 K (2328 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,393.49 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.033
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 24,574,168 years

WASP-12 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
22.03 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.965 R♃
Mass
467.21 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
1.470 M♃
Density
0.27 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.96 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.033
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2008
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#16of 1771

top 0.8%

This planet

22.03R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-12 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0022.0311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00467.21317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.271.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.962.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.008,220.580.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 467.210 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 464.032 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.
Computed mass 467.156 M⊕ Model-computed mass (e.g. from mass-radius relation).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 86396382

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3435282862461427072

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3435282862461427072

System

WASP-12

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 22.026 R⊕ · percentile 99 / cohort 1771
Mass 467.210 M⊕ · percentile 47 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 1.09 d · percentile 1 / cohort 1533
Distance 427.25 pc · percentile 71 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.033 · percentile 1 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
1.091 days
Semi-major axis
0.0234 AU
Eccentricity
0.045
Inclination
81.80 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 1.09 Earth days (0.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0234 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.538 %

Duration

3.001 h

Impact parameter b

0.424

Rp / R★

0.117000

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,607.5193

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 15,378 ppm lasting ≈ 3.00 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.117000

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

3.000

Impact parameter (b)

0.424

RV semi-amplitude (K)

219.900 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,607.5193

Long. of periastron (ω)

272.70°

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

59.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.05480

Eq. Temperature

2,601K

(2328 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

8,220.58

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.033

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

Hebb et al. 2009

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2009-03

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-12

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,265 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

3.05 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.690 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.325 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.12

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.110 dex

Stellar density

0.386 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

19.08 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

1.90 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
427.25 parsec
Light-years 1,393.49 ly
V-band magnitude
11.57 mag
Voyager-speed travel 24,574,168 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

8.312.112.14B11.57V11.50Gaia11.10TESS10.48J10.23H10.19K10.11W110.11W210.12W38.32W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.312 mas

Total Proper Motion

7.135 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-1.58 mas/yr

PM Declination

-6.96 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.115 · y = 0.861 · z = 0.495

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 97.63665° · Dec 29.67227°

Galactic ℓ, b

184.083° · 8.936°

Ecliptic λ, β

96.668° · 6.410°

HTM-20 index

1282409282

Observation Record

Photometric series

7

RV measurements

2

Transmission spectra

8

Emission spectra

26

Archive notes

8

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