CFHTWIR-Oph 98 B is a substellar object, either an exoplanet or a
sub-brown dwarf
A sub-brown dwarf or planetary-mass brown dwarf is an astronomical object that formed in the same manner as stars and brown dwarfs (i.e. through the collapse of a gas cloud) but that has a planetary mass, therefore by definition below the limi ...
that orbits CFHTWIR-Oph 98 A, a
M-type brown dwarf
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that have more mass than the biggest gas giant planets, but less than the least massive main sequence, main-sequence stars. Their mass is approximately 13 to 80 Jupiter mass, times that of Jupiter ()not big en ...
. The pair form a binary system. The primary is a M9–L1 dwarf and the secondary is an
L dwarf
An object with the spectral type L (also called L-dwarf) can be either a low-mass star, a brown dwarf or a young rogue planet, free-floating planetary-mass object. If a young exoplanet or planetary-mass companion is detected via direct imaging, it ...
with a spectral type of L2–L6. Both spectral types are estimated from photometry. The pair is separated by 200
astronomical units
The astronomical unit (symbol: au or AU) is a unit of length defined to be exactly equal to . Historically, the astronomical unit was conceived as the average Earth-Sun distance (the average of Earth's aphelion and perihelion), before its mode ...
and has a low
gravitational binding energy
The gravitational binding energy of a system is the minimum energy which must be added to it in order for the system to cease being in a gravitationally bound state. A gravitationally bound system has a lower (''i.e.'', more negative) gravitatio ...
.
The primary Oph 98A has a spectrum taken in 2012 with
VLT/ISAAC, matching a spectral type of M9.75 and from
Spitzer photometry and near-infrared photometry it is surrounded by a class II
disk. This disk has a mass of 0.135 according to a study using
SED-modelling.
Formation
It orbits a star but its formation as an exoplanet is challenging or impossible.
If its formation scenario is known, it may explain the formation of
Planet Nine
Planet Nine is a List of hypothetical Solar System objects, hypothetical ninth planet in the outer region of the Solar System. Its gravitational effects could explain the peculiar clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian obj ...
. Planetary migration may explain its formation, or it may be a
brown dwarf
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that have more mass than the biggest gas giant planets, but less than the least massive main sequence, main-sequence stars. Their mass is approximately 13 to 80 Jupiter mass, times that of Jupiter ()not big en ...
.
See also
*
List of exoplanets discovered in 2020
This list of exoplanets discovered in 2020 is a list of confirmed exoplanets that were first observed in 2020.
For exoplanets detected only by radial velocity, the listed value for mass is a lower limit. See Minimum mass for more information.
...
*
Brown dwarf
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that have more mass than the biggest gas giant planets, but less than the least massive main sequence, main-sequence stars. Their mass is approximately 13 to 80 Jupiter mass, times that of Jupiter ()not big en ...
*
2MASS J11193254–1137466 AB
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementary par ...
Notes
References
{{Exoplanet-stub
Ophiuchus
Exoplanets discovered in 2020
Exoplanets detected by direct imaging