HD 173416 b, also named Wangshu, is 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 ...

located approximately 440 light years away in the constellation of

Lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra wa ...

, orbiting the 6th

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 ...

G-type giant star

HD 173416 , - bgcolor="#FFFAFA" HD 173416 is an intermediate-mass giant star in the constellation Lyra. It is a 6th magnitude star, relatively bright for its distance of about 440 light years from Earth. The star HD 173416 is named Xihe (羲和) ...

. This is planet is at least 2.7 times the mass of Jupiter and was discovered on January 10, 2009 by Liu ''et al.'' HD 173416 b orbits at 1.16 AU from the star. However, despite the fact that the planet orbits 16% further from the star than

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

does from 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 ...

, it has orbital period of only 323.6 days, compared to 365.25 days for Earth. This inverse relationship is caused by the parent star having twice the mass of the Sun, which increases the strength of its gravitational field. This evidence implies that when this star was on the main sequence, it was an

A-type star An A-type main-sequence star (A V) or A dwarf star is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type A and luminosity class V (five). These stars have spectra defined by strong hydrogen Balmer absorption lines. They measure between 1 ...

. The planet HD 173416 b is named Wangshu (望舒). 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

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, 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 ...

. Wangshu is the goddess who drives for the Moon and also represents the Moon in

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...

References

External links

* Exoplanets discovered in 2008 Giant planets Lyra Exoplanets detected by radial velocity Exoplanets with proper names {{extrasolar-planet-stub