Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2011

WASP-43 b

A gas giant orbiting the k-type orange WASP-43, located approximately 282.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 10.42 Earth radii
  • A mass of 565.71 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 5.21 g
  • An orbital period of 0.813 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0142 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,427 K (1154 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 282.93 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.120
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 4,989,463 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

WASP-43 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
10.42 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.930 R♃
Mass
565.71 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
1.780 M♃
Density
2.94 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
5.21 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.120
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2011
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1736of 1771

top 98.0%

This planet

10.42R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-43 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0010.4211.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00565.71317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.941.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.005.212.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00680.900.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 565.714 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 36734222

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3767805209112436736

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3767805209112436736

System

WASP-43

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 10.424 R⊕ · percentile 2 / cohort 1771
Mass 565.714 M⊕ · percentile 51 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 0.81 d · percentile 0 / cohort 1533
Distance 86.75 pc · percentile 32 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.120 · percentile 32 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
0.813 days
Semi-major axis
0.0142 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
82.60 °

Year Length

A year here lasts roughly 19.5 hours long on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0142 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

2.550 %

Duration

1.159 h

Impact parameter b

0.698

Rp / R★

0.159400

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,528.8677

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 25,500 ppm lasting ≈ 1.16 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.159400

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

4.860

Impact parameter (b)

0.698

RV semi-amplitude (K)

551.000 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,528.8677

Long. of periastron (ω)

90.00°

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

3.50°

True obliquity (ψ)

20.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.16400

Eq. Temperature

1,427K

(1154 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

680.90

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.120

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.

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. 2011

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2011-11

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-43

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,400 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

7.00 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.600 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.580 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.05

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.650 dex

Stellar density

2.526 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-3.59 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

4.00 km/s

Rotation period

15.60 days

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
86.75 parsec
Light-years 282.93 ly
V-band magnitude
12.31 mag
Voyager-speed travel 4,989,463 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

8.513.813.80B12.31V11.91Gaia11.12TESS10.00J9.40H9.27K9.15W19.23W29.13W38.47W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

11.499 mas

Total Proper Motion

56.801 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-42.04 mas/yr

PM Declination

-38.19 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.892 · y = 0.418 · z = -0.170

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 154.90819° · Dec -9.80644°

Galactic ℓ, b

252.787° · 37.870°

Ecliptic λ, β

160.517° · -18.813°

HTM-20 index

1028205313

Observation Record

RV measurements

1

Transmission spectra

12

Emission spectra

23

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