WASP-6 is a type-G yellow dwarf

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 ...

located about 600 light-years away in the

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainment ...

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 ...

. Dim at

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

12, it is visible through a moderate sized

amateur telescope ''Amateur Telescope Making'' (''ATM'') is a series of three books edited by Albert G. Ingalls between 1926 and 1953 while he was an associate editor at ''Scientific American''. The books cover various aspects of telescope construction and observ ...

. The star is about 80% of the size and mass of 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 it is a little cooler.

Starspot Starspots are stellar phenomena, so-named by analogy with sunspots. Spots as small as sunspots have not been detected on other stars, as they would cause undetectably small fluctuations in brightness. The commonly observed starspots are in gene ...

s in the WASP-6 system helped to refine the measurements of the mass and the radius of the planet WASP-6b.

Planetary system

The

SuperWASP WASP or Wide Angle Search for Planets is an international consortium of several academic organisations performing an ultra-wide angle search for exoplanets using transit photometry. The array of robotic telescopes aims to survey the entire sky, ...

project announced that this star has an

extrasolar planet 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 ...

WASP-6b WASP-6b is an extrasolar planet approximately 600 light years away in the constellation Aquarius. It was discovered in 2008, by the WASP survey, by astronomical transit across its parent star WASP-6. This planet orbits only 4% that of Earth-Sun ...

, in 2008. This object was detected by the

astronomical transit In astronomy, a transit (or astronomical transit) is a phenomenon when a celestial body passes directly between a larger body and the observer. As viewed from a particular vantage point, the transiting body appears to move across the face of t ...

method.

Naming

In 2019 the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

announced that WASP-6 and its planet WASP-6b would be given official names chosen by the public from the proposals collected in a national campaign from

The Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, as part of

NameExoWorlds NameExoWorlds (also known as IAU NameExoWorlds) is the name of various projects managed by the International Astronomical Union (I.A.U.) to encourage names to be submitted for astronomical objects, which would later be considered for official ad ...

. The star WASP-6 is named Márohu and its planet Boinayel from the proposal received by Marvin del Cid. Márohu the cemí of drought is the protector of the Sun.

References

External links

WASP Planets

WASP primary website

The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia
Aquarius (constellation) G-type main-sequence stars Planetary transit variables Planetary systems with one confirmed planet J23123773-2240261 6 {{main-star-stub

Planetary system

Naming

See also

References

External links