Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2018

Wolf 503 b

A sub-neptune orbiting the k-type orange Wolf 503, located approximately 145.2 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 2.04 Earth radii
  • A mass of 6.26 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.50 g
  • An orbital period of 6.001 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0571 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 790 K (517 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 145.22 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.337
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 2,561,029 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

Wolf 503 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
2.04 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
0.182 R♃
Mass
6.26 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
0.020 M♃
Density
2.92 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.50 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Sub-Neptune

ESI Score 0.337
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2018
Method Transit
Facility K2
Telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#1903of 1978

top 96.2%

This planet

2.04R⊕

Sub-Neptune median

2.71R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth Wolf 503 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.002.0411.21
Mass (M⊕)1.006.26317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.512.921.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.502.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.0069.600.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 6.260 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

HIP

HIP 67285

TIC

TIC 187278212

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 3620325206217720320

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 3620325206217720320

System

Wolf 503

Percentile among Sub-Neptune cohort

Radius 2.043 R⊕ · percentile 4 / cohort 1978
Mass 6.260 M⊕ · percentile 29 / cohort 1978
Orbital period 6.00 d · percentile 17 / cohort 1946
Distance 44.53 pc · percentile 11 / cohort 1975
ESI 0.337 · percentile 37 / cohort 1978

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
6.001 days
Semi-major axis
0.0571 AU
Eccentricity
0.410
Inclination
89.87 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 6.00 Earth days (1.6% of a terrestrial year) on a highly eccentric trajectory at a mean orbital distance of 0.0571 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

0.074 %

Duration

1.330 h

Impact parameter b

0.650

Rp / R★

0.027910

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,458,191.3614

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 744 ppm lasting ≈ 1.33 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.027910

Impact parameter (b)

0.650

RV semi-amplitude (K)

2.980 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,458,191.3614

Long. of periastron (ω)

112.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

1.28000

Eq. Temperature

790K

(517 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

69.60

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.337

0 = alien, 1 = Earth-identical

Inside the inner HZ boundary (too hot for liquid water) — the surface is too hot to retain surface water. 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

Peterson et al. 2018

Instrument

Kepler CCD Array

Publication

2018-11

Observation locale

Space

Host System: Wolf 503

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

4,716 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

11.00 Gyr — older than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.689 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.688 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

-0.47

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.620 dex

Stellar density

2.170 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-46.83 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
44.53 parsec
Light-years 145.22 ly
V-band magnitude
10.27 mag
Voyager-speed travel 2,561,029 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 9 bands

7.611.311.28B10.27V9.90Gaia9.95Kepler9.25TESS9.09Ic8.32J7.77H7.62K

Astrometric Data

Parallax

22.430 mas

Total Proper Motion

667.845 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

-342.83 mas/yr

PM Declination

-573.13 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = -0.887 · y = -0.449 · z = -0.107

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 206.84620° · Dec -6.13934°

Galactic ℓ, b

327.116° · 54.084°

Ecliptic λ, β

207.124° · 4.616°

HTM-20 index

1390946190

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