WASP-103 is an

F-type main-sequence star An F-type main-sequence star (F V) is a main-sequence, hydrogen-fusing star of spectral type F and luminosity class V. These stars have from 1.0 to 1.4 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 6,000 and 7,600 K.Tables ...

located 1,800 ± 100

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

(550 ± 30

parsecs The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (AU), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and ...

) away in the constellation

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

. Its

surface temperature Surface temperature is the temperature at a surface. Specifically, it may refer to: * Near-surface air temperature, the temperature of the air near the surface of the Earth * Sea surface temperature, the temperature of water close to the ocean's s ...

is (K). The star's concentration of heavy elements is similar to that of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

. WASP-103 is slightly younger than the Sun at 4 billion years. The chromospheric activity of the star is elevated due to interaction with the giant planet on a close-in orbit. A multiplicity survey in 2015 found a suspected stellar companion to WASP-103, at a projected separation of .

Planetary system

Artist impression of planet WASP-103b and its host star

In 2014 one

super-Jupiter A super-Jupiter is a gas giant exoplanet that is more massive than the planet Jupiter. For example, substellar companion, companions at the planet–brown dwarf borderline have been called super-Jupiters, such as around the star Kappa Andromedae. ...

planet, named WASP-103b, was discovered by the

transit method Methods of detecting exoplanets usually rely on indirect strategies – that is, they do not directly image the planet but deduce its existence from another signal. Any planet is an extremely faint light source compared to its parent star. For e ...

. The planet is orbiting its host star in 22 hours and may be close to the limit of tidal disruption. Orbital decay was not detected by 2020. In early 2022, the planet was popularized because of its shape similar to a

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

. The planetary atmosphere contains water, and possibly

hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen cyanide (formerly known as prussic acid) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula, formula HCN and structural formula . It is a highly toxic and flammable liquid that boiling, boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is ...

titanium(II) oxide Titanium(II) oxide ( Ti O) is an inorganic chemical compound of titanium and oxygen. It can be prepared from titanium dioxide and titanium metal at 1500 °C. It is non-stoichiometric in a range TiO0.7 to TiO1.3 and this is caused by vacancie ...

, or

sodium Sodium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Na (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 element, group 1 of the peri ...

. The planet has an elevated carbon to oxygen molar fraction of 0.9 or 1.35, therefore it is nearly certain to be a

carbon planet A carbon planet is a hypothetical type of planet that contains more carbon than oxygen. Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Marc Kuchner and Sara Seager coined the term "carb ...

. Though the planetary equilibrium temperature is , the planet is

tidally locked Tidal locking between a pair of co-orbiting astronomical bodies occurs when one of the objects reaches a state where there is no longer any net change in its rotation rate over the course of a complete orbit. In the case where a tidally locked ...

to WASP-103 and has one side in permanent day and the other side in permanent night. A significant temperature difference exists between the night side and day side; the dayside temperature is , while the night side temperature is .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:WASP-103 Hercules (constellation) F-type main-sequence stars Planetary transit variables Planetary systems with one confirmed planet J16371556+0711000

103 103 may refer to: *103 (number), the number *AD 103, a year in the 2nd century AD *103 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 103 (Tyne Electrical Engineers) Field Squadron, a territorial regiment * 103 (Newcastle) Field Squadron, Royal Engineers * 103 ...