Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2007

WASP-2 b

A gas giant orbiting the k-type orange WASP-2, located approximately 499.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 12.12 Earth radii
  • A mass of 295.90 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 2.02 g
  • An orbital period of 2.152 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0314 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,311 K (1038 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 499.81 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.109
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 8,814,113 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

WASP-2 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
12.12 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.081 R♃
Mass
295.90 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.931 M♃
Density
0.91 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
2.02 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.109
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2007
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1447of 1771

top 81.6%

This planet

12.12R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-2 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0012.1211.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00295.90317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.911.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.002.022.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00492.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 295.900 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 294.628 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.
Computed mass 295.996 M⊕ Model-computed mass (e.g. from mass-radius relation).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 374530847

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 1748596020745038208

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 1748596020745038208

System

WASP-2

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 12.117 R⊕ · percentile 18 / cohort 1771
Mass 295.900 M⊕ · percentile 33 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 2.15 d · percentile 8 / cohort 1533
Distance 153.24 pc · percentile 45 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.109 · percentile 29 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
2.152 days
Semi-major axis
0.0314 AU
Eccentricity
0.005
Inclination
84.49 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 2.15 Earth days (0.6% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0314 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.646 %

Duration

1.788 h

Impact parameter b

0.749

Rp / R★

0.128310

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,458,339.0034

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 16,460 ppm lasting ≈ 1.79 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.128310

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

7.810

Impact parameter (b)

0.749

RV semi-amplitude (K)

157.000 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,339.0034

Long. of periastron (ω)

267.00°

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

-153.00°

True obliquity (ψ)

89.80°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.20500

Eq. Temperature

1,311K

(1038 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

492.00

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.109

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the dayside is scorched. Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

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

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2007-03

Observation locale

Ground

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2007 at SuperWASP (3 shown).

Host System: WASP-2

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,180 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

8.20 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.866 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.895 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.12

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.514 dex

Stellar density

1.940 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-27.87 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

0.99 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
153.24 parsec
Light-years 499.81 ly
V-band magnitude
11.73 mag
Voyager-speed travel 8,814,113 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

8.712.712.69B11.73V11.56Gaia11.00TESS10.17J9.75H9.63K9.58W19.64W29.55W38.73W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

6.498 mas

Total Proper Motion

48.643 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

5.94 mas/yr

PM Declination

-48.28 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.608 · y = -0.786 · z = 0.112

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 307.72556° · Dec 6.42933°

Galactic ℓ, b

50.774° · -18.713°

Ecliptic λ, β

311.942° · 24.543°

HTM-20 index

-1060153648

Observation Record

Photometric series

20

RV measurements

1

Transmission spectra

1

Emission spectra

2

Archive notes

7

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