Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2016

WASP-76 b

A gas giant orbiting the f-type yellow-white WASP-76, located approximately 634.2 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 20.78 Earth radii
  • A mass of 284.14 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 0.66 g
  • An orbital period of 1.810 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0330 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,228 K (1955 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 634.24 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.037
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 11,184,816 years

WASP-76 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
20.78 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.854 R♃
Mass
284.14 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.894 M♃
Density
0.17 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
0.66 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.037
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2016
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#27of 1771

top 1.5%

This planet

20.78R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-76 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0020.7811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00284.14317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.171.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.000.662.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.004,104.000.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 284.139 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).
Minimum mass (M sin i) 289.224 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 293435336

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2512326349403275520

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2512326349403275520

System

WASP-76

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 20.781 R⊕ · percentile 98 / cohort 1771
Mass 284.139 M⊕ · percentile 31 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 1.81 d · percentile 6 / cohort 1533
Distance 194.46 pc · percentile 49 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.037 · percentile 1 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
1.810 days
Semi-major axis
0.0330 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
89.62 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 1.81 Earth days (0.5% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0330 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.178 %

Duration

3.800 h

Impact parameter b

0.027

Rp / R★

0.108520

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,458,080.6262

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 11,780 ppm lasting ≈ 3.80 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.108520

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

4.080

Impact parameter (b)

0.027

RV semi-amplitude (K)

116.020 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,080.6262

Long. of periastron (ω)

51.00°

Sky-projected obliquity (λ)

61.28°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.17000

Eq. Temperature

2,228K

(1955 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

4,104.00

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.037

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

West et al. 2016

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2016-01

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WASP-76

Spectral Class

F-type yellow-white

Effective Temperature

6,329 K — hotter than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

1.82 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

1.756 R☉

Stellar Mass

1.458 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.37

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.196 dex

Stellar density

0.399 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-1.11 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

1.48 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
194.46 parsec
Light-years 634.24 ly
V-band magnitude
9.52 mag
Voyager-speed travel 11,184,816 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

8.110.110.13B9.52V9.40Gaia9.03TESS8.54J8.33H8.24K8.19W18.23W28.21W38.06W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

5.120 mas

Total Proper Motion

61.051 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

45.40 mas/yr

PM Declination

-40.82 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.893 · y = 0.448 · z = 0.047

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 26.63294° · Dec 2.70039°

Galactic ℓ, b

149.085° · -57.347°

Ecliptic λ, β

25.688° · -7.752°

HTM-20 index

-1381379508

Observation Record

Transmission spectra

7

Emission spectra

16

Archive notes

5

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