AF Leporis, also known as HD 35850, is an F-type main-sequence star located 87.5 light-years (26.8 parsecs) away from the Solar System in the constellation of Lepus. With an apparent magnitude of 6.3, it is near the limit of naked eye visibility under ideal conditions. While some studies consider it to be a close spectroscopic binary with a separation of 0.021 AU,[8] other studies show no evidence of binarity, and it is likely that the supposed binarity is an artifact resulting from the presence of starspots.[9][4]
AF Leporis is a member of the Beta Pictoris moving group, with an astronomically young age of about 24 million years. It hosts a circumstellar disk and one known exoplanet.[7]
Planetary system edit
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In 2023, a gas giant exoplanet was discovered in orbit around AF Leporis by direct imaging using the NIRC2 instrument at the W. M. Keck Observatory and the SPHERE instrument at the Very Large Telescope. It was also detected in astrometric data from the Hipparcos and Gaia spacecraft, allowing an accurate measurement of its mass.[7][4][13] Spectroscopic evidence suggests that AF Leporis b has a metal-rich atmosphere with silicate clouds.[6]
There have been multiple studies of AF Leporis b, which have found somewhat different parameters. Dynamical mass measurements range from the most recent value of 2.8 MJ[6] to 5.5 MJ.[4] Values for the planet's orbital inclination range from 50°+9°
−12°[7] to ~98°,[13] the former consistent with the stellar inclination of 54°+11°
−9° and suggesting an aligned system.[7] All studies have found that the planet has a fairly eccentric orbit.
| Companion (in order from star) |
Mass | Semimajor axis (AU) |
Orbital period (years) |
Eccentricity | Inclination | Radius |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | 2.8+0.6 −0.5 MJ |
8.2+1.3 −1.7 |
22.3+5.6 −6.7 |
0.4+0.3 −0.2 |
55+8 −13° |
1.2-1.55 RJ |
| Debris disk | 46±9[14] AU | — | — | |||
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). "Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 674: A1. arXiv:2208.00211. Bibcode:2023A&A...674A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940. S2CID 244398875. Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
- ^ a b Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1: B/gcvs. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
- ^ Gray, R. O.; Corbally, C. J.; 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. S2CID 250741593.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Mesa, D.; Gratton, R.; et al. (February 2023). "AF Lep b: the lowest mass planet detected coupling astrometric and direct imaging data". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 672: A93. arXiv:2302.06213. Bibcode:2023A&A...672A..93M. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202345865. S2CID 256827302.
- ^ Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (2012). "XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation". Astronomy Letters. 38 (5): 331. arXiv:1108.4971. Bibcode:2012AstL...38..331A. doi:10.1134/S1063773712050015. S2CID 119257644.
- ^ a b c d e Zhang, Zhoujian; Mollière, Paul; et al. (September 2023). "ELemental abundances of Planets and brown dwarfs Imaged around Stars (ELPIS): I. Potential Metal Enrichment of the Exoplanet AF Lep b and a Novel Retrieval Approach for Cloudy Self-luminous Atmospheres". The Astronomical Journal. 166 (5): 198. arXiv:2309.02488. Bibcode:2023AJ....166..198Z. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/acf768.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Franson, Kyle; Bowler, Brendan P.; et al. (February 2023). "Astrometric Accelerations as Dynamical Beacons: A Giant Planet Imaged Inside the Debris Disk of the Young Star AF Lep". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 950 (2): L19. arXiv:2302.05420. Bibcode:2023ApJ...950L..19F. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acd6f6.
- ^ a b Pawellek, Nicole; Wyatt, Mark; et al. (April 2021). "A ~75 per cent occurrence rate of debris discs around F stars in the β Pic moving group". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 502 (4): 5390–5416. arXiv:2101.12049. Bibcode:2021MNRAS.502.5390P. doi:10.1093/mnras/stab269.
- ^ a b Järvinen, S. P.; Arlt, R.; et al. (February 2015). "Doppler images and the underlying dynamo. The case of AF Leporis". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 574: A25. arXiv:1412.2892. Bibcode:2015A&A...574A..25J. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201424229. S2CID 119205096.
- ^ "V* AF Lep". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
- ^ "MAST: Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes". Space Telescope Science Institute. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- ^ "Spotting a hidden exoplanet". ESO. 20 February 2023.
- ^ a b De Rosa, Robert J.; Nielsen, Eric L.; et al. (February 2023). "Direct imaging discovery of a super-Jovian around the young Sun-like star AF Leporis". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 672: A94. arXiv:2302.06332. Bibcode:2023A&A...672A..94D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202345877. S2CID 256827414.
- ^ Pearce, Tim D.; Launhardt, Ralf; et al. (March 2022). "Planet populations inferred from debris discs. Insights from 178 debris systems in the ISPY, LEECH, and LIStEN planet-hunting surveys". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 659: A135. arXiv:2201.08369. Bibcode:2022A&A...659A.135P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202142720. S2CID 246063879.