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08/07/13 7:21 AM

#207458 RE: fuagf #189875

Astronomers Image Lowest-mass Exoplanet Around a Sun-like Star

This composite combines Subaru images of GJ 504 using two near-infrared wavelengths (orange, 1.6 micrometers, taken in May 2011; blue, 1.2 micrometers, April 2012). Once processed to remove scattered starlight, the images reveal the orbiting planet, GJ 504b.
[much larger (click on it) at http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/gj504b_labels_v2.jpg ]


Glowing a dark magenta, the newly discovered exoplanet GJ 504b weighs in with about four times Jupiter's mass, making it the lowest-mass planet ever directly imaged around a star like the sun.
[much larger (click on it) at http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/gj504b_exoplanet_final_0.jpg ]


This chart locates the fifth-magnitude star GJ 504, also known as 59 Virginis, which is visible to the unaided eye from suburban skies.
[much larger (click on it) at http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/gj504_star_chart.jpg ]

Aug. 5, 2013
[...]
The researchers find that GJ 504b is about four times more massive than Jupiter and has an effective temperature of about 460 degrees Fahrenheit (237 Celsius).
It orbits the G0-type star GJ 504, which is slightly hotter than the sun and is faintly visible to the unaided eye in the constellation Virgo. The star lies 57 light-years away and the team estimates the systems is about 160 million years old, based on methods that link the star's color and rotation period to it age.
[...]

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/astronomers-image-lowest-mass-exoplanet-around-a-sun-like-star/