WASP-2b is an extrasolar planet orbiting the

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 ...

WASP-2 WASP-2 is a binary star system in the Delphinus constellation located about 500 light-years away. The primary is magnitude 12 orange dwarf star, orbited by red dwarf star on wide orbit. The star system shows an infrared excess noi ...

located about 500

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 away in the

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 Delphinus. It was discovered via the transit method, and then follow up measurements using the radial velocity method confirmed that WASP-2b was a planet. The planet's mass and radius indicate that it is a gas giant with a similar bulk composition to Jupiter. Unlike Jupiter, but similar to many other planets detected around other stars, WASP-2b is located very close to its star, and belongs to the class of planets known as hot Jupiters. A 2008 study concluded that the WASP-2b system (among others) is a

binary star A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...

system allowing even more accurate determination of stellar and planetary parameters.

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External links

''NewScientistSpace'': Third 'puffed-up planet' discovered

BBC News article

WASP Planets
{{DEFAULTSORT:WASP-2b Exoplanets discovered by WASP Exoplanets discovered in 2006 Giant planets Hot Jupiters Transiting exoplanets Delphinus (constellation)

See also

References

External links