CoRoT-8 is a star in the
constellation Aquila at a distance of about 1239 light-years from us. At least one planet revolves around the star.
CoRoT-8 is an orange dwarf which has 0.88 solar masses and 0.77 solar radius.
By astronomical standards, this is already a rather young star compared to the Sun: its age is about 3 billion years. It got its name in honor of the
CoRoT space telescope, with the help of which its planetary companion was discovered.
In 2010, a group of astronomers working within the
CoRoT program announced the discovery of the planet
CoRoT-8b
CoRoT-8b is a transiting exoplanet orbiting the K-type main sequence star CoRoT-8 1,050 light years away in the equatorial constellation Aquila. The planet was discovered in April 2010 by the CoRoT telescope.
Discovery
This planet was discover ...
in this system. It is a hot gas giant, similar in mass and size to
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
. The planet orbits at a distance of about 0.06 AU. e. from the parent star, while making a complete revolution in 6.21 days.
References
Aquila (constellation)
K-type main-sequence stars
{{main-star-stub