Mu Arae d
Extrasolar planet orbiting the star Mu Arae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mu Arae d, also known as HD 160691 d, formally named Rocinante /ˌrɒsəˈnæntiː/, is an extrasolar planet orbiting the star Mu Arae of the constellation Ara.
Mayor, Pepe
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Goździewski et al. Mayor, Pepe |
| Discovery site | Chile South America |
| Discovery date | August 5, 2006 |
| Doppler Spectroscopy | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Apastron | 0.9823 AU (146,950,000 km) |
| Periastron | 0.8597 AU (128,610,000 km) |
| 0.9210 AU (137,780,000 km)[1] | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0666 ± 0.0122[1] |
| 310.55 ± 0.83[1] d 0.8502 y | |
| 2452708.7 ± 8.3[1] | |
| 189.6 ± 9.4[1] | |
| Semi-amplitude | 14.91 ± 0.59[1] |
| Star | Mu Arae |
Characteristics
The planet has a mass about half that of Jupiter and orbits at a distance of 0.921 AU from the star with a period of 310.55 days. The planet may be located at a distance close enough to the star to receive a comparable amount of ultraviolet radiation as the Earth does from the Sun. However, it is too close to the star to be able to support liquid water at its surface.[2] Furthermore, given its mass, the planet is likely to be a gas giant with no solid surface.
Name
In July 2014 the International Astronomical Union launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars.[3] The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names.[4] In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning name was Rocinante for this planet.[5] The winning name was submitted by the Planetario de Pamplona, Spain. Rocinante was the horse of the lead character of the novel Don Quixote.[6]
