WASP-17 is an F-type main sequence star approximately 1,300 light-years away in the constellation

Scorpius Scorpius is a zodiac constellation located in the Southern celestial hemisphere, where it sits near the center of the Milky Way, between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east. Scorpius is an ancient constellation that pre-dates the Gr ...

. WASP-17 is named Dìwö. The name was selected in the

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 ...

campaign by Costa Rica, during the 100th anniversary of 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 ...

. Dìwö in Bribri language means the sun. The star, although similar to Sun in terms of overall contents of heavy elements, is depleted of carbon. Carbon to oxygen molar ratio of 0.18 for WASP-17 is well below solar ratio of 0.55.

Planetary system

As of 2009, 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 ...

has been confirmed to orbit the star. The star is unusual in that it has an orbiting exoplanet,

WASP-17b WASP-17b is an exoplanet in the constellation Scorpius that is orbiting the star WASP-17. Its discovery was announced on 11 August 2009. It is the first planet discovered to have a retrograde orbit, meaning it orbits in a direction counter to t ...

, which is believed to orbit in the opposite direction to the star's spin and is said to be twice the size of Jupiter, but half its mass. It is subject to intensive photo-evaporation, and may be completely destroyed within one billion years from now.D. Ehrenreich and J.-M. Désert, "Mass-loss rates for transiting exoplanets", 2011
/ref> The planet was discovered by 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, hence the name.

References

Scorpius (constellation) F-type main-sequence stars Planetary systems with one confirmed planet Planetary transit variables J15595095-2803422 17 {{main-star-stub