Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | Hubble Space Telescope |
Discovery date | 22 September 2016 |
Gravitational microlensing | |
Orbital characteristics | |
Star | OGLE-2007-BLG-349 |
Physical characteristics | |
Mass | 80 (± 13) [1] ME |
OGLE-2007-BLG-349(AB)b [note 1] [2] is a circumbinary extrasolar planet about 8,000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. [3] It is the first circumbinary exoplanet to be discovered using the microlensing method of detecting exoplanets. [1]
OGLE-2007-BLG-349L(AB)b is a super-Neptune, an exoplanet that has a mass and radius larger than that of Neptune. It has a mass of around 80 ME. [1] This is somewhat close to the mass of Saturn, 95 ME, so OGLE-2007-BLG-349L(AB)b can also be considered a gas giant. It orbits at a distance of around 2.9 AU in a circumbinary orbit, meaning it orbits around two stars.
The planet orbits in a circumbinary ( M-type) binary star system named OGLE-2007-BLG-349L. They orbit around each other roughly every 9 days. [1] The stars have masses of 0.41 and 0.30 M☉, respectively. The age of the system, radii and temperatures of the stars are not known. In comparison, the Sun is 4.6 billion years old [4] [5] and has a surface temperature of 5778 K. [6] The star's apparent magnitude, or how bright it appears from Earth's perspective, is 14.3. Therefore, it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye.