Tau Boötis b
| Exoplanet | List of exoplanets | |
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Parent star | ||
| Star | Tau Boötis | |
| Constellation | Boötes | |
| Right ascension | (α) | 13h 47m 15.743s |
| Declination | (δ) | +17° 27′ 24.86″ |
| Apparent magnitude | (mV) | 4.5 |
| Distance | 50.9 ± 0.2 ly (15.62 ± 0.05 pc) |
|
| Spectral type | F6IV | |
| Orbital elements | ||
| Semi-major axis | (a) | 0.0481 AU |
| Eccentricity | (e) | 0.023 ± 0.015 |
| Orbital period | (P) | 3.312463 ± 0.000014 d |
| Inclination | (i) | 44° |
| Argument of periastron |
(ω) | 188° |
| Time of periastron | (T0) | 2,446,957.81 ± 0.54 JD |
| Semi-amplitude | (K) | 461.1 m/s |
| Physical characteristics | ||
| Mass | (m) | 5.5-6MJ |
| Bond Albedo | (Ab) | <0.37 |
| Temperature | (T) | 1,700 K (1,430 °C; 2,600 °F) |
| Discovery information | ||
| Discovery date | 1996 | |
| Discoverer(s) | Marcy et al. | |
| Discovery method | Doppler Spectroscopy | |
| Other detection methods | Direct detection | |
| Discovery site |
 University of California
|
|
| Discovery status | Published | |
| Other designations | ||
|
Tau Boötis Ab
|
||
| Database references | ||
| Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia |
data | |
| SIMBAD | data | |
| Exoplanet Archive | data | |
| Open Exoplanet Catalogue | data | |
Tau Boötis b, or more precisely Tau Boötis Ab, is an extrasolar planet approximately 51 light-years away around the primary star of the Tau Boötis system in the constellation of Boötes. The planet's existence being announced in 1996 by Geoffrey Marcy and R. Paul Butler, Tau Boötis was one of the first stars confirmed to have planets orbiting it. On 16 December 1999, the planet was dubbed the "Millennium Planet" because the planet was then (erroneously) thought to be the first extrasolar planet to be discovered visually.
The planet and its host star is one of the planetary systems selected by the International Astronomical Union as part of their public process for giving proper names to exoplanets and their host star (where no proper name already exists). The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names, and the IAU planned to announce the new names in mid-December 2015. However, the IAU annulled the vote as the winning name was judged not to conform with the IAU rules for naming exoplanets.
Discovered in 1996, the planet is one of the first extrasolar planets found. It was discovered orbiting the star Tau Boo (HR 5185) by Paul Butler and Geoffrey Marcy (San Francisco Planet Search Project) using the highly successful radial velocity method. Since the star is visually bright and the planet is massive, it produces a very strong velocity signal of 469 ± 5 metres per second, which was quickly confirmed by Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz from data collected over 15 years. It was later confirmed also by the AFOE Planet Search Team.
...
Wikipedia