Jump to content

HD 131399 Ab

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Davemck (talk | contribs) at 06:52, 8 July 2016 (format ref). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This annotated composite image shows the newly discovered exoplanet HD 131399Ab in the triple-star system HD 131399. The image of the planet was obtained with the SPHERE imager on the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile. This is the first exoplanet to be discovered by SPHERE and one of very few directly-imaged planets. With a temperature of around 580 degrees Celsius and an estimated mass of four Jupiter masses, it is also one of the coldest and least massive directly-imaged exoplanets. This picture was created from two separate SPHERE observations: one to image the three stars and one to detect the faint planet. The planet appears vastly brighter in this image than in would in reality in comparison to the stars.

HD 131399 Ab is an exoplanet orbiting around the star HD 131399 A, which is part of a trinary star system, located at a distance of 320 light-years.[1][2][3] The other two stars orbit each other and jointly orbit HD 131399A.

HD 131399Ab was discovered by direct imaging using its thermal emission. It has a mass of (4 ± 1 MJup), and is 850 K (577 °C; 1,070 °F) (±50°K). Using near-infrared spectroscopy (1.4-1.6 μm) the atmosphere was characterized; it contains both water and methane.[2]

One orbit of HD 131399 Ab takes 550 years.[2] During about ¼ of the orbit, 100–140 years, all three suns are visible during a single day: during this period of time any spot on the planet is in perpetual sunlight—as the single sun sets, the binary pair rises.[1]

HD 131399 Ab was discovered by the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory located in the Atacama Desert of Chile.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "This strange new planet has three suns". CBS News. 7 July 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Wagner, Kevin (7 July 2016). "Direct imaging discovery of a Jovian exoplanet within a triple-star system". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aaf9671.
  3. ^ information@eso.org. "A Surprising Planet with Three Suns". ESO. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HD_131399_Ab&oldid=728873203"