Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2010

WASP-31 b

A gas giant orbiting the f-type yellow-white WASP-31, located approximately 1,251.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 17.36 Earth radii
  • A mass of 151.92 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.50 g
  • An orbital period of 3.406 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0466 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,424 K (1151 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 1,251.88 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.067
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 22,076,926 years

WASP-31 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
17.36 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.549 R♃
Mass
151.92 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.478 M♃
Density
0.17 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.50 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.067
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2010
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#98of 1771

top 5.5%

This planet

17.36R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-31 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0017.3611.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00151.92317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.171.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.502.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00970.940.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 151.916 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 437248515

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3545873945303316224

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3545873945303316224

System

WASP-31

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 17.363 R⊕ · percentile 94 / cohort 1771
Mass 151.916 M⊕ · percentile 12 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 3.41 d · percentile 22 / cohort 1533
Distance 383.83 pc · percentile 68 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.067 · percentile 12 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
3.406 days
Semi-major axis
0.0466 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
84.41 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 3.41 Earth days (0.9% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0466 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.615 %

Duration

2.647 h

Impact parameter b

0.770

Rp / R★

0.127100

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,192.6887

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 16,150 ppm lasting ≈ 2.65 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.127100

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

8.000

Impact parameter (b)

0.770

RV semi-amplitude (K)

59.400 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,192.6887

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

2.80°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.12100

Eq. Temperature

1,424K

(1151 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

970.94

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.067

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. 2011

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2011-07

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-31

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,302 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

1.00 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.252 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.163 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.20

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.308 dex

Stellar density

0.829 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-0.34 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

7.90 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
383.83 parsec
Light-years 1,251.88 ly
V-band magnitude
11.66 mag
Voyager-speed travel 22,076,926 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

8.912.012.01B11.66V11.82Gaia11.46TESS10.91J10.71H10.65K10.62W110.64W210.54W38.87W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

2.577 mas

Total Proper Motion

28.725 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-28.71 mas/yr

PM Declination

0.99 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.929 · y = 0.173 · z = -0.326

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 169.43886° · Dec -19.05478°

Galactic ℓ, b

274.226° · 38.539°

Ecliptic λ, β

178.203° · -21.620°

HTM-20 index

964819418

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