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Upsilon Andromedae b, occasionally referred to as Upsilon Andromedae Ab (to distinguish it from the red dwarf Upsilon Andromedae B), is an extrasolar planet approximately 44 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Andromeda (the Chained Maiden). The planet was discovered orbiting the Solar twin star, Upsilon Andromedae, approximately every five days. Discovered in June 1996 by Geoffrey Marcy and R. Paul Butler, it was one of the first hot Jupiters to be discovered. Upsilon Andromedae b is the innermost known planet in its planetary system.

Discovery

Like the majority of known extrasolar planets, Upsilon Andromedae b was detected by the variations in its star's radial velocity caused by the planet's gravity. The variations were detected by making sensitive measurements of the Doppler shift of Upsilon Andromedae's spectrum. The planet was announced in January 1997, together with 55 Cancri b and the planet orbiting Tau Boötis.

Like 51 Pegasi b, the first extrasolar planet discovered around a normal star, Upsilon Andromedae b orbits very close to its star, closer than Mercury does to our Sun. The planet takes 4.617 days to complete an orbit, with a semimajor axis of 0.0595 AU.

A limitation of the radial velocity method used to detect Upsilon Andromedae b is that only a lower limit on the mass can be found. In the case of Upsilon Andromedae b, this lower limit is 68.7% of the mass of Jupiter, though depending on the inclination of the orbit, the true mass may be much greater. However, astronomers found recently that inclination of the orbital plane is around 25° and the true mass may be about 1.4 M_J. Coplanarity is not to be assumed; the mutual inclination between c and d is 35 degrees.

Physical characteristics

Given the planet's high mass, it is likely that Upsilon Andromedae b is a gas giant with no solid surface.

The Spitzer Space Telescope measured the planet temperature, and found that the difference between the two sides of Upsilon Andromedae b of about 1,400 degrees Celsius, ranging from minus 20 to 230 degrees to about 1,400 to 1,650 degrees Celsius. The temperature difference has led to speculation that Upsilon Andromedae b is tidal locked with the same side always facing Upsilon Andromedae A.

Sudarsky had, on the assumption that the planet is similar to Jupiter in composition and that its environment is close to chemical equilibrium, predicted Upsilon Andromedae b to have reflective clouds of silicates and iron in its upper atmosphere. The cloud deck instead absorbs the sun's radiation; between that and the hot, high pressure gas surrounding the mantle, exists a stratosphere of cooler gas. The outer shell of dark, opaque, hot cloud is assumed to consist of vanadium and titanium oxides ("pM planets"), but other compounds like tholins cannot be ruled out yet.

The planet is unlikely to have large moons, since tidal forces would either eject them from orbit or destroy them on short timescales compared to the age of the system.

The planet (with 51 Pegasi b) was deemed a candidate for direct imaging by Planetpol. Preliminary results from polarimetric studies indicate that the planet has predominately blue color, is 1.36 times as large and 0.74 times as massive as Jupiter, meaning that the mean density is 0.36g/cm. It has a geometric albedo of 0.35 in visible light.

Effect on its sun

Upsilon Andromedae b appears to be responsible for increased chromospheric activity on its parent star. Observations suggest that there is a "hot spot" on the star around 169° away from the sub-planetary point. This may be the result of interactions between the magnetic fields of the planet and the star. The mechanism may be similar to that responsible for the activity of RS Canum Venaticorum variable stars, or the interaction between Jupiter and its moon Io.

See also

• 55 Cancri b
• Tau Boötis b

References

1. Butler; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Williams, Eric; Hauser, Heather; Shirts, Phil; et al. (1997). "Three New 51 Pegasi-Type Planets". The Astrophysical Journal. 474 (2): L115 – L118. Bibcode:1997ApJ...474L.115B. doi:10.1086/310444. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
2. Butler, R.; et al. (2006). "Catalog of Nearby Exoplanets". The Astrophysical Journal. 646 (1): 505–522. arXiv:astro-ph/0607493. Bibcode:2006ApJ...646..505B. doi:10.1086/504701. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help) (web version)
3. Cite error: The named reference McArthur2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. McArthur, B., Benedict, G. F., Bean, J., & Martioli, E. (2007). "Planet Masses in the Upsilon Andromadae system determined with the HST Fine Guidance Sensors". American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts. 211.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
5. Harrington, J (October 27, 2006). "The phase-dependent infrared brightness of the extrasolar planet upsilon Andromedae b". Science. 314 (5799): 623–6. arXiv:astro-ph/0610491. Bibcode:2006Sci...314..623H. doi:10.1126/science.1133904. PMID 17038587. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
6. Sudarsky, D.; et al. (2003). "Theoretical Spectra and Atmospheres of Extrasolar Giant Planets". The Astrophysical Journal. 588 (2): 1121–1148. arXiv:astro-ph/0210216. Bibcode:2003ApJ...588.1121S. doi:10.1086/374331. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
7. Ivan Hubeny; Adam Burrows (2008). "Spectrum and atmosphere models of irradiated transiting extrasolar giant planets". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. 4: 239. arXiv:0807.3588v1. doi:10.1017/S1743921308026458.
8. Barnes, J., O'Brien, D. (2002). "Stability of Satellites around Close-in Extrasolar Giant Planets". The Astrophysical Journal. 575 (2): 1087–1093. arXiv:astro-ph/0205035. Bibcode:2002ApJ...575.1087B. doi:10.1086/341477.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. Lucas, P. W.; Hough, J. H.; Bailey, J. A.; Tamura, M.; Hirst, E.; Harrison, D. (2007). "Planetpol polarimetry of the exoplanet systems 55 Cnc and tau Boo". arXiv:0807.2568v1 .
10. Andromedae b in polarized light: New constraints on the planet size, density and albedo: S.V. Berdyugina, A.V. Berdyugin, V. Piirola, 14 September 2011
11. Shkolnik; Walker, G. A. H.; Bohlender, D. A.; Gu, P.‐G.; Kurster, M.; et al. (2005). "Hot Jupiters and Hot Spots: The Short- and Long-term Chromospheric Activity on Stars with Giant Planets". The Astrophysical Journal. 622 (2): 1075–1090. arXiv:astro-ph/0411655. Bibcode:2005ApJ...622.1075S. doi:10.1086/428037. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)

External links

• "A Triple-Planet System Orbiting Ups Andromedae". San Francisco State University. Lick Observatory. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
• "Mystery Solved: How The Orbits Of Extrasolar Planets Became So Eccentric". SpaceDaily. 2005-04-14. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
• "NASA's Spitzer Sees Day and Night on Exotic World". NASA. Spitzer Space Telescope. 2006-10-12. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
• "Upsilon Andromedae". The Internet Encyclopedia of Science. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
• "Upsilon Andromedae". The Planet Project. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
• "Upsilon Andromedae 2". SolStation. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
• "Upsilon Andromedae b". Extrasolar Visions. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
• "The Upsilon Andromedae Planetary System". Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Retrieved 2008-06-23.

v t e The Upsilon Andromedae system
Upsilon Andromedae A Upsilon Andromedae B
Upsilon Andromedae b Upsilon Andromedae c Upsilon Andromedae d Upsilon Andromedae e?
See also binary stars extrasolar planets

Template:Link GA

• Upsilon Andromedae
• Exoplanets discovered in 1996
• Gas giants
• Hot Jupiters
• Exoplanets detected by radial velocity