55 Cancri f
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55 Cancri f (abbreviated 55 Cnc f), also designated Rho1 Cancri f and named Harriot, is an extrasolar planet approximately 41 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cancer (the Crab). 55 Cancri f is the fourth known planet (in order of distance) from the star 55 Cancri and the first planet to have been given the designation of "f".[1]
In July 2014 the International Astronomical Union launched a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars.[2] The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names.[3] In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning name was Harriot for this planet.[4] The winning name was submitted by the Royal Netherlands Association for Meteorology and Astronomy of the Netherlands. It honors the astronomer Thomas Harriot.[5]
Discovery
The initial presentation of this planet occurred at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in April 2005,[6] however it was another two and a half years before the planet was to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.[7] It is the first known planet outside our solar system to spend its entire orbit within what astronomers call the "habitable zone".[8] Furthermore, its discovery made 55 Cancri the first star other than the Sun known to have at least five planets.
Orbit and mass
55 Cancri f is located about 0.781 AU away from the star and takes 260 days to complete a full orbit.[9] A limitation of the radial velocity method used to detect 55 Cancri f is that only a minimum mass can be obtained, in this case around 0.144 times that of Jupiter, or half the mass of Saturn.[9] A Keplerian fit to the radial velocity data of 55 Cancri A indicates that the orbit is consistent with being circular, however changing the value in a range between 0 and 0.4 does not significantly alter the chi-squared statistic of the fit, thus a representative eccentricity of 0.2±0.2 was assumed.[7] In a Newtonian model which takes interactions between the planets into account, the eccentricity comes out as 0.0002, almost perfectly circular.[7]
Astrometric observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that the outer planet 55 Cancri d is inclined at 53° with respect to the plane of the sky.[10] The inner planets b and e are inclined at 85°. The inclination of f is unknown.
Characteristics
Since the planet was detected indirectly through observations of its star, properties such as its radius, composition and temperature are unknown. With a mass half that of Saturn,[9] 55 Cancri f is likely to be a gas giant with no solid surface. It orbits in the so-called "habitable zone," which means that liquid water could exist on the surface of a possible moon.[8]
It is not known if the composition and appearance is more like Saturn or Neptune.[1] Based on its temperature, it should be a Sudarsky Class II planet, covered in water clouds.[citation needed]
References
- ^ a b Shige Abe (12 November 2007). "Researchers Identify First Five-Planet Extrasolar System". NASA Astrobiology. Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ NameExoWorlds: An IAU Worldwide Contest to Name Exoplanets and their Host Stars. IAU.org. 9 July 2014
- ^ NameExoWorlds The Process
- ^ Final Results of NameExoWorlds Public Vote Released, International Astronomical Union, 15 December 2015.
- ^ NameExoWorlds The Approved Names
- ^ J. Wisdom (11 April 2005). "A Neptune-sized Planet in the rho1 Cancri System". DDA 36th Meeting, 10–14 April 2005—Session 5 Posters. The American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 16 December 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
fischer08was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Ian Sample, science correspondent (7 November 2007). "Could this be Earth's near twin? Introducing planet 55 Cancri f". London: The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Jean Schneider (2011). "Notes for Planet 55 Cnc f". Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
- ^ Han; et al. (2001). "Preliminary Astrometric Masses for Proposed Extrasolar Planetary Companions". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 548 (1): L57–L60. Bibcode:2001ApJ...548L..57H. doi:10.1086/318927.
External links
- Ward Glen (8 November 2007). "Astronomers Find Fifth Planet Around 55 Cancri". The Starry Mirror. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
