Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

WASP-121 b

A gas giant orbiting the f-type yellow-white WASP-121, located approximately 880.3 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 19.53 Earth radii
  • A mass of 371.86 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.98 g
  • An orbital period of 1.275 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0257 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,409 K (2136 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 880.29 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.037
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 15,523,887 years

WASP-121 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
19.53 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.742 R♃
Mass
371.86 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
1.170 M♃
Density
0.28 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.98 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.037
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

#37of 1771

top 2.0%

This planet

19.53R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-121 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0019.5311.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00371.86317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.281.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.982.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.006,216.410.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 371.859 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 22529346

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 5565050255701441664

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 5565050255701441664

System

WASP-121

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 19.526 R⊕ · percentile 98 / cohort 1771
Mass 371.859 M⊕ · percentile 39 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 1.27 d · percentile 1 / cohort 1533
Distance 269.90 pc · percentile 57 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.037 · percentile 1 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
1.275 days
Semi-major axis
0.0257 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
88.49 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 1.27 Earth days (0.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0257 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.502 %

Duration

2.905 h

Impact parameter b

0.100

Rp / R★

0.122551

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,458,661.5638

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 15,018 ppm lasting ≈ 2.91 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.122551

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

3.784

Impact parameter (b)

0.100

RV semi-amplitude (K)

181.100 m/s

Occultation depth

0.113 ppm

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,661.5638

Long. of periastron (ω)

10.00°

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

87.20°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.09530

Eq. Temperature

2,409K

(2136 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

6,216.41

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.037

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

Delrez et al. 2016

Instrument

e2v CCD Camera

Publication

2016-06

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-121

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,628 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

1.11 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.461 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.330 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.17

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.251 dex

Stellar density

0.631 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

38.35 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

13.50 km/s

Rotation period

1.13 days

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
269.90 parsec
Light-years 880.29 ly
V-band magnitude
10.51 mag
Voyager-speed travel 15,523,887 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

9.211.011.00B10.51V10.37Gaia10.06TESS9.63J9.44H9.37K9.36W19.39W29.38W39.18W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.676 mas

Total Proper Motion

25.894 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-3.85 mas/yr

PM Declination

25.61 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.235 · y = 0.740 · z = -0.631

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 107.60023° · Dec -39.09727°

Galactic ℓ, b

250.294° · -13.325°

Ecliptic λ, β

118.740° · -60.792°

HTM-20 index

-327295076

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