Pi Mensae b

Pi Mensae b (π Men b, π Mensae b), also known as HD 39091 b, is an extrasolar planet[2] approximately 59 light-years away in the constellation of Mensa. The planet was announced orbiting the yellow main-sequence star[3] Pi Mensae in October 2001.

Pi Mensae b
Discovery
Discovered byJones et al.[1]
Discovery site Anglo-Australian
Telescope
Discovery date15 October 2001
Doppler spectroscopy
Orbital characteristics
Apastron5.54 AU (829,000,000 km)
Periastron1.22 AU (183,000,000 km)
3.38 ± 0.22 AU (506,000,000 ± 33,000,000 km)[2]
Eccentricity0.6405±0.0072[2]
2151 ± 85[2] d
5.89 ± 0.23[2] y
2,447,820 ± 170[2]
330.24 ± 0.67[2]
Semi-amplitude196.4 ± 1.3[2]
StarPi Mensae

    Detection and discovery

    On October 15, 2001, a team of astronomers including Jones, Butler, Tinney, Marcy, Penny, McCarthy, Carter, and Pourbaix announced the discovery of one of the most massive extrasolar planets that have yet been observed. It was discovered by the Anglo-Australian Planet Search team, using a Doppler spectrometer mounted on the Anglo-Australian Telescope.

    Physical characteristics

    Pi Mensae b has a very eccentric orbit and takes 5.89 years to revolve around the star. The semi-major axis of the planet to the star is 3.38 AU while the semi-minor axis is 2.59 AU. This planet passes through the star's habitable zone at periastron (1.21 AU) while at apastron, it passes to beyond Jupiter-Sun distance (5.54 AU). The gravitational influence of this planet would disrupt the orbit of any potentially Earth-like planet.

    Pi Mensae b is over ten times more massive than Jupiter,[4] the most massive planet in our solar system. It will have 10 times the surface gravity of Jupiter alone and could be incandescent (glowing). The inclination of the orbit is not known, and it could be a brown dwarf instead.

    See also

    References
    1. Jones H., Vogt S., Butler P., Marcy G., Fischer D., Pourbaix D., Apps K., & Laughlin G.
    2. Butler; et al. (2006). "Catalog of Nearby Exoplanets". The Astrophysical Journal. 646 (1): 505–522. arXiv:astro-ph/0607493. Bibcode:2006ApJ...646..505B. doi:10.1086/504701.
    3. Gray, R. O.; et al. (July 2006). "Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: spectroscopy of stars earlier than M0 within 40 pc-The Southern Sample". The Astronomical Journal. 132 (1): 161–170. arXiv:astro-ph/0603770. Bibcode:2006AJ....132..161G. doi:10.1086/504637.
    4. Jones; et al. (2002). "A probable planetary companion to HD 39091 from Anglo-Australian Planet Search". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 333 (4): 871–875. arXiv:astro-ph/0112084. Bibcode:2002MNRAS.333..871J. doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05459.x. (web Preprint)

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