XO-6b is a transiting

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 ...

, a

hot Jupiter Hot Jupiters (sometimes called hot Saturns) are a class of gas giant exoplanets that are inferred to be physically similar to Jupiter but that have very short orbital periods (). The close proximity to their stars and high surface-atmosphere temp ...

, orbiting the star XO-6 around 760 Light Years (230 Parsecs) away from Earth. It was discovered in 2016 by the XO planet search team.

Physical properties

XO-6b is one of the puffiest planets ever discovered, with a maximum mass of 4.4 times of Jupiter. It is up to twice as wide, making it one of the largest exoplanets ever found (see list of largest exoplanets). Later estimates, however, make it around two times the mass of Jupiter. XO-6b has a tight orbit, which means a year on it is only about 4 days. XO-6 is slightly more than one tenth as far from its host star as

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.

XO-6

XO-6b orbits XO-6, a faint 10th magnitude star in the constellation

Camelopardalis Camelopardalis is a large but faint constellation of the northern sky representing a giraffe. The constellation was introduced in 1612 or 1613 by Petrus Plancius. Some older astronomy books give Camelopardalus or Camelopardus as alternative for ...

. Due to its magnitude, this star is too faint to be seen with the naked eye, but can be seen with a telescope. XO-6 is a F-type main-sequence star with about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun. It is also radiating 4 times as bright, and is almost twice the size of the Sun. It is also hotter, with a temperature of 6720 kelvins, which gives it the typical hue of an F-type star. Unlike most other stars of its kind, XO-6 rotates rapidly at a rate of 43 km/s.

Physical properties

XO-6

References

Further reading