Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2009

WASP-17 b

A gas giant orbiting the f-type yellow-white WASP-17, located approximately 1,323.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 20.96 Earth radii
  • A mass of 247.91 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.56 g
  • An orbital period of 3.735 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0515 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,755 K (1482 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,323.89 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.041
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 23,346,857 years

WASP-17 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
20.96 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.870 R♃
Mass
247.91 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.780 M♃
Density
0.08 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.56 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.041
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2009
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#23of 1771

top 1.2%

This planet

20.96R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-17 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0020.9611.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00247.91317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.081.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.562.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.001,292.190.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 247.907 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 66818296

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 6042793005779654656

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 6042793005779654656

System

WASP-17

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 20.961 R⊕ · percentile 99 / cohort 1771
Mass 247.907 M⊕ · percentile 26 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 3.74 d · percentile 26 / cohort 1533
Distance 405.91 pc · percentile 70 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.041 · percentile 2 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.735 days
Semi-major axis
0.0515 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
86.63 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.74 Earth days (1.0% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0515 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.700 %

Duration

4.423 h

Impact parameter b

0.400

Rp / R★

0.124720

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,592.8015

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 17,000 ppm lasting ≈ 4.42 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.124720

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

8.970

Impact parameter (b)

0.400

RV semi-amplitude (K)

59.200 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,592.8015

Long. of periastron (ω)

-82.60°

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

-148.50°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.12700

Eq. Temperature

1,755K

(1482 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

1,292.19

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.041

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

Anderson et al. 2010

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2010-01

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-17

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,550 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

2.65 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.490 R☉

Stellar Mass

2.280 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.25

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.200 dex

Stellar density

0.980 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-49.51 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

9.92 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
405.91 parsec
Light-years 1,323.89 ly
V-band magnitude
11.59 mag
Voyager-speed travel 23,346,857 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

8.811.811.83B11.59V11.38Gaia11.03TESS10.51J10.32H10.22K10.20W110.23W210.09W38.81W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.437 mas

Total Proper Motion

12.591 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-8.10 mas/yr

PM Declination

-9.64 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.442 · y = -0.764 · z = -0.470

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 239.96225° · Dec -28.06179°

Galactic ℓ, b

345.960° · 18.668°

Ecliptic λ, β

243.549° · -7.339°

HTM-20 index

-609292101

Observation Record

Photometric series

3

RV measurements

2

Transmission spectra

25

Emission spectra

8

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