WASP-107b is a
super-Neptune
A super-Neptune is a planet that is more massive than the planet Neptune. These planets are generally described as being around 5–7 times as large as Earth with estimated masses of 20–80 ; beyond this they are generally referred to as gas gian ...
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 ...
that orbits the star
WASP-107. It lies 200 light-years away from
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
in the constellation
Virgo
Virgo may refer to:
*Virgo (astrology), the sixth astrological sign of the zodiac
*Virgo (constellation), a constellation
*Virgo Cluster, a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Virgo
*Virgo Stellar Stream, remains of a dwarf galaxy
*Virgo Supe ...
.
Its discovery was announced in 2017 by a team led by D. R. Anderson via the
WASP-South.
Planetary orbit
WASP-107b could not have formed in its current orbit. It likely migrated inward from its birth orbit beyond 1
AU due to interaction with the heavier planet
WASP-107c.
WASP-107c follows a highly eccentric and inclined orbit with a period of 1088
day
A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...
s.
[ WASP-107b itself is in a retrograde orbit, strongly misaligned with the equatorial plane of the parent star. The misalignment angle is equal to 118°.
]
Physical characteristics
WASP-107b is a super-Neptune
A super-Neptune is a planet that is more massive than the planet Neptune. These planets are generally described as being around 5–7 times as large as Earth with estimated masses of 20–80 ; beyond this they are generally referred to as gas gian ...
gas-giant exoplanet located 200 light years away from Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
in the constellation Virgo.[ It is roughly the size of ]Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
but less than one-tenth of Jupiter's mass, making it one of the lowest density exoplanets.[ Its radius is 0.96 times Jupiter's, making its atmosphere fluffy, and coupled with transiting a moderately bright K star makes it a target for atmospheric characterization.]Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
is to the Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
and orbits its star every 5.7 days.[ With a temperature of , its atmosphere makes it one of the hottest known exoplanets.][
]Helium
Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...
was discovered in the planet's atmosphere in 2018, making it the first time helium was discovered on an exoplanet.transit
Transit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film
* ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world
* ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...
-egress.Extreme ultraviolet
Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV or XUV) or high-energy ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning wavelengths from 124 nm down to 10 nm, and therefore (by the Planck– ...
radiation from the host star is gradually whittling down the planet's atmosphere, forming a comet-like tail 7 times as long as the radius of the planet.
See also
* Lists of exoplanets
These are lists of exoplanets. Most of these were discovered by the Kepler space telescope. There are an additional 2,054 potential exoplanets from Kepler's first mission yet to be confirmed, as well as 978 from its " Second Light" mission and ...
* List of largest exoplanets
Below is a list of the largest exoplanets so far discovered, in terms of physical size, ordered by radius.
Caveats
This list of extrasolar objects may and will change over time because of inconsistency between journals, different methods used ...
* List of nearest exoplanets
There are known exoplanets, or planets outside the Solar System that orbit a star, as of ; only a small fraction of these are located in the vicinity of the Solar System. Within , there are 97 exoplanets listed as confirmed by the NASA Exoplane ...
References
External links
{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Solar System
Exoplanets discovered in 2017
Virgo (constellation)
Gas giants
Giant planets
Exoplanets discovered by WASP
Hubble Space Telescope
Helium