Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2017

WASP-91 b

A gas giant orbiting the k-type orange WASP-91, located approximately 489.0 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 11.55 Earth radii
  • A mass of 425.89 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 3.20 g
  • An orbital period of 2.799 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0370 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 1,160 K (887 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 489.04 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.138
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 8,624,305 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

WASP-91 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
11.55 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.030 R♃
Mass
425.89 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
1.340 M♃
Density
1.59 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
3.20 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.138
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2017
Method Transit
Facility SuperWASP-South
Telescope Canon 200mm f/1.8L

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1585of 1771

top 89.4%

This planet

11.55R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WASP-91 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0011.5511.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00425.89317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.511.591.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.003.202.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00332.560.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 425.892 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 238176110

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 6386751579018596864

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 6386751579018596864

System

WASP-91

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 11.545 R⊕ · percentile 10 / cohort 1771
Mass 425.892 M⊕ · percentile 44 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 2.80 d · percentile 13 / cohort 1533
Distance 149.94 pc · percentile 44 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.138 · percentile 35 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
2.799 days
Semi-major axis
0.0370 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
86.80 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 2.80 Earth days (0.8% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0370 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

1.500 %

Duration

2.342 h

Impact parameter b

0.510

Rp / R★

0.122500

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,456,297.7190

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 15,000 ppm lasting ≈ 2.34 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.122500

Semi-major axis / stellar radius

9.100

Impact parameter (b)

0.510

RV semi-amplitude (K)

217.000 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,456,297.7190

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.24700

Eq. Temperature

1,160K

(887 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

332.56

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.138

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

Primary reference

Anderson et al. 2017

Instrument

iKon-L CCD Camera

Publication

2017-08

Observation locale

Ground

Discovery cohort

Planets confirmed in 2017 at SuperWASP-South (3 shown).

Host System: WASP-91

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,920 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.860 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.840 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.19

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.300 dex

Stellar density

1.830 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

2.78 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

2.40 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
149.94 parsec
Light-years 489.04 ly
V-band magnitude
11.98 mag
Voyager-speed travel 8,624,305 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

9.012.712.73B11.98V11.62Gaia11.04TESS10.28J9.84H9.71K9.68W19.75W29.67W38.96W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

6.640 mas

Total Proper Motion

96.200 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

96.18 mas/yr

PM Declination

-1.75 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.339 · y = -0.013 · z = -0.941

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 357.84643° · Dec -70.15286°

Galactic ℓ, b

310.221° · -46.116°

Ecliptic λ, β

311.320° · -59.083°

HTM-20 index

689672360

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