Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2015

Wolf 1061 b

A rocky terrestrial orbiting the m-type red dwarf Wolf 1061, located approximately 14.0 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 1.21 Earth radii
  • A mass of 1.91 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.30 g
  • An orbital period of 4.887 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0375 AU
  • Distance from Earth 14.04 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.942
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 247,666 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Context from the literature

Wolf 1061b is an exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf star Wolf 1061 in the Ophiuchus constellation, about 13.8 light years from Earth. It is the first planet in order from its host star in a triple planetary system, and has an orbital period of nearly 5 days. The planet orbits too close to its star for it to be in the habitable zone.

Excerpted from Wikipedia · full article

2 siblings around Wolf 1061

Wolf 1061 b shares its host star with 2 other confirmed planets. Side-by-side measurements below.

Planet Type Radius (R⊕) Mass (M⊕) Period (d) Eq. T (K) Year
Wolf 1061 b this Rocky Terrestrial 1.21 1.91 4.887 2015
Wolf 1061 c Super-Earth 1.66 3.41 17.872 2015
Wolf 1061 d Sub-Neptune 2.69 7.70 217.210 2015

Wolf 1061 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
1.21 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.108 R♃
Mass
1.91 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.006 M♃
Density
5.92 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.30 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Rocky Terrestrial

ESI Score 0.942
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2015
Method Radial Velocity
Facility La Silla Observatory
Telescope 3.6 m ESO Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#56of 570

top 9.6%

This planet

1.21R⊕

Rocky Terrestrial median

1.01R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Wolf 1061 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.001.2111.21
Mass (M⊕)1.001.91317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.515.921.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.302.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.007.340.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Minimum mass (M sin i) 1.910 M⊕ Lower bound from radial-velocity fitting.

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HIP

HIP 80824

TIC

TIC 413948621

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 4330690742322011520

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 4330690742322011520

System

Wolf 1061

Percentile among Rocky Terrestrial cohort

Radius 1.210 R⊕ · percentile 87 / cohort 570
Mass 1.910 M⊕ · percentile 80 / cohort 570
Orbital period 4.89 d · percentile 53 / cohort 567
Distance 4.31 pc · percentile 3 / cohort 566
ESI 0.942 · percentile 93 / cohort 570

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
4.887 days
Semi-major axis
0.0375 AU
Eccentricity
0.150
Inclination
°

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 4.89 Earth days (1.3% of a terrestrial year) on a mildly elliptical path at a mean orbital distance of 0.0375 AU.

Eq. Temperature

 

Insolation (S⊕)

7.34

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.942

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water). Close-orbiting tidally-locked around a cool host.

Discovery Paper

Primary reference

Wright et al. 2016

Instrument

HARPS Spectrograph

Publication

2016-02

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: Wolf 1061

Spectral Class

M-type red dwarf

Effective Temperature

3,342 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

Stellar Radius

0.307 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.294 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.09

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.902 dex

Stellar density

12.748 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-21.04 km/s

Rotation period

95.00 days

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
4.31 parsec
Light-years 14.04 ly
V-band magnitude
10.10 mag
Voyager-speed travel 247,666 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 8 bands

5.111.911.86B10.10V8.79Gaia7.53TESS7.41Ic5.95J5.37H5.08K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

232.210 mas

Total Proper Motion

1,187.508 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-94.03 mas/yr

PM Declination

-1,183.78 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.372 · y = -0.902 · z = -0.219

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 247.57483° · Dec -12.66769°

Galactic ℓ, b

3.347° · 23.677°

Ecliptic λ, β

247.854° · 9.064°

HTM-20 index

922353005

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