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Post Info TOPIC: HD 40307
Blobrana


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HD40307
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Title: The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets. XIII. A planetary system with 3 Super-Earths (4.2, 6.9, & 9.2 Earth masses)
Authors: M. Mayor, S. Udry, C. Lovis, F. Pepe, D. Queloz, W. Benz, J.-L. Bertaux, F. Bouchy, C. Mordasini, D. Segransan

This paper reports on the detection of a planetary system with three Super-Earths orbiting HD40307. HD40307 is a K2V metal-deficient star at a distance of only 13 parsec, part of the HARPS GTO high-precision planet-search programme. The three planets on circular orbits have very low minimum masses of respectively 4.2, 6.9 and 9.2 Earth masses and periods of 4.3, 9.6 and 20.5 days. The planet with the shortest period is the lightest planet detected to-date orbiting a main sequence star. The detection of the correspondingly low amplitudes of the induced radial-velocity variations is completely secured by the 135 very high-quality HARPS observations illustrated by the radial-velocity residuals around the 3-Keplerian solution of only 0.85 m/s. Activity and bisector indicators exclude any significant perturbations of stellar intrinsic origin, which supports the planetary interpretation. Contrary to most planet-host stars, HD40307 has a marked sub-solar metallicity ([Fe/H]=-0.31), further supporting the already raised possibility that the occurrence of very light planets might show a different dependence on host star's metallicity compared to the population of gas giant planets. In addition to the 3 planets close to the central star, a small drift of the radial-velocity residuals reveals the presence of another companion in the system the nature of which is still unknown.

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Blobrana


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HD 40307
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HD 40307 is an orange dwarf star approximately 42 light-years away in the constellation of Pictor (the Easel). As of 2008, three extrasolar planets have been discovered to be orbiting the star.

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Position(2000): RA 05h 54m 04.2409s, Dec 60° 01 24.498

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Blobrana


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RE: HD 40307 exoplanets
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European astronomers say they have found a triple system of so-called super-Earths while using the European Southern Observatory's La Silla telescope.
The astronomers said they used the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS instrument, to find the planets orbiting star HD 40307. Moreover, looking at their entire sample studied with HARPS, the astronomers count a total of 45 candidate planets with a mass below 30 Earth masses and an orbital period shorter than 50 days. That, they said, implies one solar-like star out of three has such planets in orbit.

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A harvest of low-mass exoplanets discovered with HARPS
Today, at an international conference, a team of European astronomers announced a remarkable breakthrough in the field of extra-solar planets. Using the HARPS instrument at the ESO La Silla Observatory, they have found a triple system of super-Earths around the star HD 40307. Looking at their entire sample studied with HARPS, the astronomers count a total of 45 candidate planets with a mass below 30 Earth masses and an orbital period shorter than 50 days. This implies that one solar-like star out of three harbours such planets.
The group of astronomers have now discovered a system of three super-Earths around a rather normal star, which is slightly less massive than our Sun, and is located 42 light-years away towards the southern Doradus and Pictor constellations.

"We have made very precise measurements of the velocity of the star HD 40307 over the last five years, which clearly reveal the presence of three planets" - Michel Mayor,  Geneva Observatory.

The planets, having 4.2, 6.7, and 9.4 times the mass of the Earth, orbit the star with periods of 4.3, 9.6, and 20.4 days, respectively.
At the same conference, the team of astronomers announced the discovery of two other planetary systems, also with the HARPS spectrograph. In one, a super-Earth (7.5 Earth masses) orbits the star HD 181433 in 9.5 days. This star also hosts a Jupiter-like planet with a period close to 3 years. The second system contains a 22 Earth-mass planet having a period of 4 days and a Saturn-like planet with a 3-year period as well.

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