Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2020

Wendelstein-1 b

A gas giant orbiting the k-type orange Wendelstein-1, located approximately 995.8 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 11.56 Earth radii
  • A mass of 188.16 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.41 g
  • An orbital period of 2.663 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0282 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,198 K (1925 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 995.75 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.058
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 17,560,126 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Wendelstein-1 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
11.56 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.031 R♃
Mass
188.16 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.592 M♃
Density
0.72 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.41 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.058
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2020
Method Transit
Facility Haleakala Observatory
Telescope 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1584of 1771

top 89.4%

This planet

11.56R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Wendelstein-1 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0011.5611.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00188.16317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.721.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.412.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.00113.610.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 188.155 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 75262942

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 1820530778750452096

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 1820530778750452096

System

Wendelstein-1

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 11.561 R⊕ · percentile 11 / cohort 1771
Mass 188.155 M⊕ · percentile 18 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 2.66 d · percentile 12 / cohort 1533
Distance 305.30 pc · percentile 61 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.058 · percentile 8 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
2.663 days
Semi-major axis
0.0282 AU
Eccentricity
0.012
Inclination
86.12 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 2.66 Earth days (0.7% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0282 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

3.752 %

Duration

1.843 h

Rp / R★

0.169800

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,455,367.7385

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 37,523 ppm lasting ≈ 1.84 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.169800

RV semi-amplitude (K)

115.560 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,455,367.7385

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.09240

Eq. Temperature

2,198K

(1925 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

113.61

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.058

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

Obermeier et al. 2020

Instrument

Gigapixel Camera 1 (GPC1)

Publication

2020-07

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: Wendelstein-1

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,251 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.610 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.650 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

Distance
305.30 parsec
Light-years 995.75 ly
V-band magnitude
15.56 mag
Voyager-speed travel 17,560,126 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 15 bands

8.917.217.16B15.56V15.03Gaia14.20TESS16.23Sloan g15.09Sloan r14.52Sloan i14.26Sloan z12.97J12.33H12.20K12.10W112.13W212.07W38.92W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

3.247 mas

Total Proper Motion

4.519 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

4.13 mas/yr

PM Declination

-1.83 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.463 · y = -0.833 · z = 0.302

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 299.05064° · Dec 17.56996°

Galactic ℓ, b

55.998° · -5.678°

Ecliptic λ, β

305.682° · 37.479°

HTM-20 index

1361707664

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