CaltechAUTHORS
Published November 10, 2007 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

A Planetary-Mass Companion to the K0 Giant HD 17092

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Nicolaus Copernicus University
  • 2. ROR icon Pennsylvania State University
  • 3. ROR icon Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center
  • 4. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 5. ROR icon Jet Propulsion Lab
  • 6. ROR icon The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

We report the discovery of a substellar-mass companion to the K0 giant HD 17092 with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. In the absence of any correlation of the observed 360 day periodicity with the standard indicators of stellar activity, the observed radial velocity variations are most plausibly explained in terms of a Keplerian motion of a planetary-mass body around the star. As the estimated stellar mass is 2.3 M_⊙, the minimum mass of the planet is 4.6 M_J. The planet's orbit is characterized by a mild eccentricity of e = 0.17 and a semimajor axis of 1.3 AU. This is the tenth published detection of a planetary companion around a red giant star. Such discoveries add to our understanding of planet formation around intermediate-mass stars, and they provide dynamical information on the evolution of planetary systems around post-main-sequence stars.

Additional Information

© 2007 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2007 May 1; accepted 2007 July 18. We thank Shri Kulkarni for his contribution to the initial development of this project and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) resident astronomers and telescope operators for support. The FTS iodine spectrum was kindly provided by Bill Cochran. A. N., A.W., G. N., and G. M. were supported in part by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant 1P03D007 30. A.W. also acknowledges partial support from the NASA Astrobiology Program. M. K. was supported by NASA through grant NNG04GM62G. G. N. is a recipient of a graduate stipend of the Chairman of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The HET is a joint project of the University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg- August-Universität Göttingen. The HET is named in honor of its principal benefactors, William P. Hobby and Robert E. Eberly.

Attached Files

Published - NIEapj07.pdf

Files

NIEapj07.pdf

Files (259.7 kB)

Name Size
md5:92a0e8b85ac059f14d4d86ae9ba2e638
259.7 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
17540
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20100219-112841058

Funding

Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education
1P03D007 30
NASA Astrobiology Program
NASA
NNG04GM62G

Dates

Created
2010-02-22
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-08
Created from EPrint's last_modified field