Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

WASP-120 b

A gas giant orbiting the f-type yellow-white WASP-120, located approximately 1,243.2 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 15.58 Earth radii
  • A mass of 1,541.48 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 6.35 g
  • An orbital period of 3.611 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0514 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,749 K (1476 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,243.22 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.082
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 21,924,216 years

WASP-120 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
15.58 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.390 R♃
Mass
1,541.48 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
4.850 M♃
Density
2.33 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
6.35 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.082
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2016
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#193of 1771

top 10.8%

This planet

15.58R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-120 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0015.5811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.001,541.48317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.331.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.006.352.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.001,818.550.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 1,541.476 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 152476657

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 4837286842167819776

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 4837286842168217088

System

WASP-120

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 15.580 R⊕ · percentile 89 / cohort 1771
Mass 1,541.476 M⊕ · percentile 75 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 3.61 d · percentile 24 / cohort 1533
Distance 381.17 pc · percentile 68 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.082 · percentile 19 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.611 days
Semi-major axis
0.0514 AU
Eccentricity
0.057
Inclination
84.54 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.61 Earth days (1.0% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0514 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.568 %

Duration

3.538 h

Impact parameter b

0.650

Rp / R★

0.075100

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,456,779.4347

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 5,684 ppm lasting ≈ 3.54 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.075100

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

6.800

Impact parameter (b)

0.650

RV semi-amplitude (K)

509.000 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,456,779.4347

Long. of periastron (ω)

333.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.13500

Eq. Temperature

1,749K

(1476 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

1,818.55

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.082

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.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Turner et al. 2016

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2016-06

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-120

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,450 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

0.70 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.684 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.393 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.05

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.035 dex

Stellar density

0.299 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

19.84 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

15.10 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
381.17 parsec
Light-years 1,243.22 ly
V-band magnitude
10.96 mag
Voyager-speed travel 21,924,216 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

9.311.511.48B10.96V10.90Gaia10.58TESS10.15J9.98H9.88K9.80W19.82W29.81W39.28W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.595 mas

Total Proper Motion

6.932 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

2.38 mas/yr

PM Declination

-6.51 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.320 · y = 0.618 · z = -0.718

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 62.61608° · Dec -45.89824°

Galactic ℓ, b

252.187° · -46.684°

Ecliptic λ, β

41.307° · -64.777°

HTM-20 index

-2131613910

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