HD 200964 is a

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

with a pair of orbiting

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s located in the northern

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

of Equuleus. It has an apparent visual magnitude of +6.48, which puts it at the lower limit of visibility to the naked eye, but

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

would make it easy to see. Based on

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

measurements, the distance to this system is 238

light year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s, but it is drifting closer with a heliocentric

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

of −72.6 km/s. This is a G-type subgiant star with a

stellar classification In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their stellar spectrum, spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a Prism (optics), prism or diffraction grati ...

of G8 IV. It is a 3.3 billion year old star that has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core and has begun to evolve away from the

main sequence In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Her ...

, where it was an A-type star. The star has 44% more mass than the Sun and is spinning with a

projected rotational velocity Stellar rotation is the angular motion of a star about its axis. The rate of rotation can be measured from the spectrum of the star, or by timing the movements of active features on the surface. The rotation of a star produces an equatorial bulge ...

of 2.3 km/s. The abundance of iron, an indicator of the star's

metallicity In astronomy, metallicity is the abundance of elements present in an object that are heavier than hydrogen and helium. Most of the normal physical matter in the Universe is either hydrogen or helium, and astronomers use the word ''"metals"'' as a ...

, is lower than in the Sun. The star has swelled to 4.3 times the radius of the Sun and it is radiating nearly 14 times the Sun's luminosity from its enlarged

photosphere The photosphere is a star's outer shell from which light is radiated. The term itself is derived from Ancient Greek roots, φῶς, φωτός/''phos, photos'' meaning "light" and σφαῖρα/''sphaira'' meaning "sphere", in reference to it ...

at an

effective temperature The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation. Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body's surface temperature ...

of 5,164 K.

Planetary system

On July 26, 2010 the

California and Carnegie Planet Search California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

team announced the discovery of two planets around HD 200964 along with two planets around

24 Sextantis 24 Sextantis, often abbreviated as 24 Sex, is the Flamsteed designation of a 7th-magnitude star located approximately 236 light years away in the constellation of Sextans. At an apparent visual magnitude of 6.61, this star can only be ...

. The inner planet is nearly twice as massive as Jupiter and takes 614 days to orbit the star in a circular orbit at the average distance of 1.60 AU (240 Gm). The outer planet is ⁹/₁₀ the mass of Jupiter and takes 825 days to orbit eccentrically around the star at the average distance of 1.95 AU (292 Gm). Due to the close proximity of the two planets to each other the discoverers only found stable orbits near the 4:3

resonance Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillatin ...

, meaning that every time the outer planet orbits the star three times, the inner planet orbits the star four times. The two planets are separated by only 0.35 AU. Because of the small separation between the two massive planets, the gravitational tugs between the two planets is nearly 3 million times greater than the gravitational force between Earth and Mars, 700 times larger than that between Earth and the Moon, and 4 times larger than the pull of the Sun on Earth. After additional

measurements were taken stable solutions in the 7:5 and 3:2 mean-motion resonances were found in addition to the 4:3 mean-motion resonance. The 7:5 configuration currently provides the best match to the measurements. There is evidence of a possible third planet in the system with a period of ~7 days however the three planet model of the system is only slightly better than the two planet model.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:HD 200964 G-type subgiants Planetary systems with two confirmed planets Equuleus Durchmusterung objects Equulei, 10 200964 104202

Planetary system

See also

References