6 Lyncis b (abbreviated 6 Lyn b) is an

extrasolar planet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first detect ...

orbiting the K-type

subgiant A subgiant is a star that is brighter than a normal main-sequence star of the same spectral class, but not as bright as giant stars. The term subgiant is applied both to a particular spectral luminosity class and to a stage in the evolution ...

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

6 Lyncis 6 Lyncis is a star in the northern constellation of Lynx, located approximately 179 light years from Earth. It is visible to the naked eye as a dim, orange-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.86. This object is moving away fro ...

which is approximately 182

light year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distance, astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by t ...

s away in the

Lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

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 first constellati ...

. The planet has a

minimum mass In astronomy, minimum mass is the lower-bound calculated mass of observed objects such as planets, stars, binary systems, nebulae, and black holes. Minimum mass is a widely cited statistic for extrasolar planets detected by the radial velocit ...

. The

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

for this planet is 899 days, or 2.46 years. The orbital radius for this planet is 2.2 AU,

periastron An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary-mass object, planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two maximum a ...

1.9 AU, and

apastron An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

2.5 AU, corresponding to the

orbital eccentricity In astrodynamics, the orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a dimensionless parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values be ...

of 0.134. This planet was discovered on July 3, 2008 by Sato ''et al.'', who used

Doppler spectroscopy Doppler spectroscopy (also known as the radial-velocity method, or colloquially, the wobble method) is an indirect method for finding extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs from radial-velocity measurements via observation of Doppler shifts in ...

to find variations of the line of sight motion of the star caused by the planet’s gravity during its orbit.

References

External links

* * Lynx (constellation) Giant planets Exoplanets discovered in 2008 Exoplanets detected by radial velocity {{extrasolar-planet-stub

See also

References

External links