Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2018

WASP-161 b

A gas giant orbiting the f-type yellow-white WASP-161, located approximately 1,119.0 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 12.81 Earth radii
  • A mass of 791.40 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 4.82 g
  • An orbital period of 5.406 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0673 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,557 K (1284 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,118.98 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.099
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 19,733,141 years

WASP-161 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
12.81 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.143 R♃
Mass
791.40 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
2.490 M♃
Density
2.20 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
4.82 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.099
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2018
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP-South
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1058of 1771

top 59.7%

This planet

12.81R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-161 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0012.8111.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00791.40317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.201.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.004.822.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00990.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 791.397 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 50712784

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 5751177095877066496

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 5751177095877066496

System

WASP-161

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 12.812 R⊕ · percentile 40 / cohort 1771
Mass 791.397 M⊕ · percentile 61 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 5.41 d · percentile 38 / cohort 1533
Distance 343.08 pc · percentile 65 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.099 · percentile 26 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
5.406 days
Semi-major axis
0.0673 AU
Eccentricity
Inclination
89.01 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 5.41 Earth days (1.5% of a terrestrial year) at a mean orbital distance of 0.0673 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.451 %

Duration

5.129 h

Impact parameter b

0.140

Rp / R★

0.067100

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,457,416.5289

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 4,509 ppm lasting ≈ 5.13 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.067100

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

8.490

Impact parameter (b)

0.140

RV semi-amplitude (K)

230.000 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,457,416.5289

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.19600

Eq. Temperature

1,557K

(1284 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

990.00

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.099

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

Barkaoui et al. 2019

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2019-02

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-161

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,400 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

1.712 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.390 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.16

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.111 dex

Stellar density

0.398 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

37.44 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

18.00 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
343.08 parsec
Light-years 1,118.98 ly
V-band magnitude
11.08 mag
Voyager-speed travel 19,733,141 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

8.811.611.65B11.08V10.90Gaia10.56TESS10.09J9.91H9.84K9.82W19.85W29.79W38.76W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.886 mas

Total Proper Motion

5.420 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-5.39 mas/yr

PM Declination

-0.59 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.581 · y = 0.789 · z = -0.199

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 126.33782° · Dec -11.50099°

Galactic ℓ, b

234.510° · 14.865°

Ecliptic λ, β

131.994° · -29.797°

HTM-20 index

42620812

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