Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2009

WASP-18 b

A gas giant orbiting the f-type yellow-white WASP-18, located approximately 402.7 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 13.90 Earth radii
  • A mass of 3,241.85 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 16.78 g
  • An orbital period of 0.941 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0202 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,429 K (2156 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 402.75 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.058
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 7,102,447 years

WASP-18 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
13.90 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.240 R♃
Mass
3,241.85 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
10.200 M♃
Density
6.60 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
16.78 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.058
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

#504of 1771

top 28.4%

This planet

13.90R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-18 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0013.9011.21
Mass (M⊕)1.003,241.85317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.516.601.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.0016.782.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.005,805.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 3,241.850 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 3,222.780 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HD

HD 10069

HIP

HIP 7562

TIC

TIC 100100827

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 4955371367334610048

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 4955371367334610048

System

WASP-18

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 13.899 R⊕ · percentile 71 / cohort 1771
Mass 3,241.850 M⊕ · percentile 88 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 0.94 d · percentile 1 / cohort 1533
Distance 123.48 pc · percentile 39 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.058 · percentile 8 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
0.941 days
Semi-major axis
0.0202 AU
Eccentricity
0.005
Inclination
83.50 °

Year Length

A year here lasts roughly 22.6 hours long on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0202 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.041 %

Duration

2.210 h

Impact parameter b

0.360

Rp / R★

0.101800

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,456,740.8056

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 10,410 ppm lasting ≈ 2.21 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.101800

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

3.480

Impact parameter (b)

0.360

RV semi-amplitude (K)

1,814.000 m/s

Occultation depth

0.034 ppm

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,456,740.8056

Long. of periastron (ω)

-85.00°

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

4.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.16400

Eq. Temperature

2,429K

(2156 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

5,805.00

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.058

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.

Transit timing variations

Gravitational interactions from neighbours have been detected.

Orbital-brightness modulation

Host star brightness varies with the planet's orbit.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Hellier et al. 2009

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2009-08

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-18

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,432 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

1.57 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.319 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.294 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.11

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.310 dex

Stellar density

0.795 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

3.20 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

11.00 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
123.48 parsec
Light-years 402.75 ly
V-band magnitude
9.28 mag
Voyager-speed travel 7,102,447 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

7.89.99.85B9.28V9.17Gaia8.83TESS8.41J8.23H8.13K8.08W18.12W28.08W37.75W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

8.069 mas

Total Proper Motion

32.580 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

25.24 mas/yr

PM Declination

20.60 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.637 · y = 0.288 · z = -0.715

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 24.35446° · Dec -45.67779°

Galactic ℓ, b

279.710° · -69.321°

Ecliptic λ, β

358.176° · -50.444°

HTM-20 index

1537412788

Observation Record

Photometric series

8

Transmission spectra

2

Emission spectra

31

Archive notes

4

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