Confirmed Exoplanet Discovered 2014

WTS-2 b

A gas giant orbiting the k-type orange WTS-2, located approximately 3,361.9 light-years from Earth.

Key parameters at a glance

  • A radius of 15.28 Earth radii
  • A mass of 355.97 Earth masses
  • Surface gravity around 1.53 g
  • An orbital period of 1.019 days
  • Semi-major axis 0.0186 AU
  • Equilibrium temperature 2,000 K (1727 °C)
  • Distance from Earth 3,361.91 light-years
  • Earth Similarity Index 0.057
  • Travel time at Voyager 1 speed 59,287,329 years
  • Almost certainly tidally locked to its host star given the close orbit

WTS-2 b Planet Profile

Physical Specs

Radius
15.28 R⊕
Radius (Jupiter)
1.363 R♃
Mass
355.97 M⊕
Mass (Jupiter)
1.120 M♃
Density
0.54 g/cm³
Surface Gravity
1.53 g (Earth)

Classification

Planet Type

Gas Giant

ESI Score 0.057
HZ Position Inner
Controversial No

Discovery

Year 2014
Method Transit
Facility United Kingdom Infrared Telescope
Telescope 3.8 m United Kingdom Infrared Telescope

Size rank in cohort

Rank by radius

#210of 1771

top 11.8%

This planet

15.28R⊕

Gas Giant median

13.52R⊕

Nearest-size peers

Metric Earth WTS-2 b Jupiter
Radius (R⊕)1.0015.2811.21
Mass (M⊕)1.00355.97317.83
Density (g/cm³)5.510.541.33
Surface Gravity (g)1.001.532.53
Insolation (S⊕)1.002,544.650.037

Alternative Mass Estimates

Method Value Interpretation
Best measured mass 355.970 M⊕ Direct mass measurement (not derived).

Star Catalogue Identifiers

TIC

TIC 138359318

Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 2048563889694771200

Gaia DR3

Gaia DR3 2048563889694771200

System

WTS-2

Percentile among Gas Giant cohort

Radius 15.278 R⊕ · percentile 88 / cohort 1771
Mass 355.970 M⊕ · percentile 38 / cohort 1747
Orbital period 1.02 d · percentile 1 / cohort 1533
Distance 1,030.77 pc · percentile 86 / cohort 1759
ESI 0.057 · percentile 7 / cohort 1771

Orbit & Habitability

Orbital Dynamics

Period
1.019 days
Semi-major axis
0.0186 AU
Eccentricity
0.000
Inclination
83.55 °

Year Length

A year here lasts approximately 1.02 Earth days (0.3% of a terrestrial year) on a nearly circular orbit at a mean orbital distance of 0.0186 AU.

Transit Fingerprint

Depth

9.156 %

Duration

1.495 h

Impact parameter b

0.584

Rp / R★

0.186300

Transit midpoint (BJD)

2,454,317.8133

Photometric dip

Transit produces a flux drop of 91,559 ppm lasting ≈ 1.49 h.

Extended Orbital Architecture

Planet / star radius ratio

0.186300

Impact parameter (b)

0.584

RV semi-amplitude (K)

256.000 m/s

Transit mid-time (BJD)

2,454,317.8133

Long. of periastron (ω)

293.00°

Angular separation (arcsec)

0.01800

Eq. Temperature

2,000K

(1727 °C)

Insolation (S⊕)

2,544.65

Earth = 1.00

Earth Similarity (ESI)

0.057

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

Birkby et al. 2014

Instrument

WFCam Wide Field Camera

Publication

2014-05

Observation locale

Ground

Host System: WTS-2

Spectral Class

K-type orange

Effective Temperature

5,000 K — cooler than the Sun (5,778 K)

Estimated Age

0.60 Gyr — younger than the Sun (4.6 Gyr)

Stellar Radius

0.752 R☉

Stellar Mass

0.820 M☉

Metallicity [Fe/H]

0.20

Extended Stellar Properties

Surface gravity (log g)

4.600 dex

Stellar density

2.720 g/cm³

Systemic radial velocity

-20.03 km/s

Rotational v·sin i

2.20 km/s

Metallicity ratio

[Fe/H]

Distance
1,030.77 parsec
Light-years 3,361.91 ly
V-band magnitude
15.95 mag
Voyager-speed travel 59,287,329 yr

Multi-band Host Photometry — 11 bands

9.217.117.09B15.95V15.60Gaia14.96TESS13.93J13.46H13.41K13.30W113.37W212.11W39.18W4

Astrometric Data

Parallax

0.970 mas

Total Proper Motion

0.964 mas/yr

PM Right Ascension

0.14 mas/yr

PM Declination

-0.95 mas/yr

Galactic Cartesian (pc)

x = 0.322 · y = -0.733 · z = 0.599

Equatorial (J2000)

RA 293.73278° · Dec 36.81549°

Galactic ℓ, b

70.382° · 7.981°

Ecliptic λ, β

306.585° · 57.279°

HTM-20 index

235292270

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