Extra Solar Planets The first 51 Pegasi b

Extra Solar Planets

The first— 51 Pegasi b (Bellerophon )

51 Pegasi B The star Star 51 Pegasi Constellation. Pegasus Distance 50. 9 ± 0. 3 ly (15. 61 ± 0. 09 pc) Spectral type. G 2. 5 IVa or G 45 Va Mass(m)1. 06 x Mass of Sun Radius(r)1. 237 ± 0. 047 Rsun Temperature(T)5571 ± 102 K Metallicity[Fe/H]0. 20 ± 0. 0 Age 6. 1 -8. 1 Gyr The planet Semimajor axis (a) 0. 0527 ± 0. 0030 AU (7. 89 Gm) Periastron (q) 0. 0520 AU (7. 79 Gm) Apastron (Q) 0. 0534 AU (7. 99 Gm) Eccentricity (e) 0. 013 ± 0. 012 Orbital period (P) 4. 230785 ± 0. 000036 d (101. 5388 h) Argument of periastron (ω) 58° Time of periastron (T 0) 2, 450, 001. 51 ± 0. 61 JD Semi-amplitude (K) 55. 94 ± 0. 69 m/s Physical characteristics Minimum mass (m sin i) 0. 472 ± 0. 039 MJ (150 M⊕)

How do we know this Radial velocity of Star It move toward and away from us with period of 4. 2 days.

How do we know that? Doppler Effect! Change in wavelength depends on speed!

In practice…its done with spectra

Problem: not all systems are edge on! We don’t always know the tilt! Thus the mass measured is a minimum mass Here mp = 0, we can know exact mass. Here I = 90. . can’t determine mp In General, mass listed is really: M sin i where i is inclination of orbit

Then there is a bit more physics:

Then a bit of algebra…. and Astronomers know star masses from their spectra and lots of work from predecessors over the years! Vstar and p are obtained from the radial velocity graph!

Limits of Radial velocity measurements Star surfaces move up and down about 1 m/s, so this is smallest practical speed for star. Big Planet close to small star creates the biggest wobble, so we can see these most easily. To see a complete wobble, we need to watch for one period—hard to do for planets more distant than a few AU’s. Earth Makes sun move about 1 cm/s, so this would be lost in the Noise of the sun if someone was trying to detect us! So guess what we found around sun like stars ?

Hot Jupiters! Here are the first nine planets discovered (as of 1997)

Why search around sun like stars?

A more complete list (2000)

A Growth Industry?

So where are we know (2010) Note 20 multiple planet systems!

So how are they finding smaller or more distant planets? Use Astrometry (motion of stars in photographs) Watch for longer time periods! (its been 12 years now!) • Improve precision of methods (techology continues to improve) • Gets lots more people doing it! • Search around smaller stars! • Use Transit Photometry for edge on systems (finds smaller planets? ) • Lets see how these methods are working!