Gliese 1214b is about 2.7 times Earth’s diameter and is almost 7 times as massive. It is located 42 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus.
The Japanese researchers used the 8.2 meter Subaru telescope to make the find.
Super-earths are an emerging population of extrasolar planets whose masses and radii lie between those of the Earth and the Uranus/Neptune. The nature of super-Earths, such as internal structure and atmospheric compositions, remains almost unknown since there is no super-Earth in our Solar System. Transiting super-Earths are thus invaluable targets for observations to learn the nature of super-Earths in details.
GJ 1214b discovered by Charbonneau et al. (2009) is the first-ever transiting super-Earth around an M dwarf which enables us to study its atmosphere through so-called transmission spectroscopy, thanks to the small host star’s size (1/5th the radius of our sun).
Arxiv - Multi-Color Transit Photometry of GJ 1214b through BJHKs-Bands and a Long-Term Monitoring of the Stellar Variability of GJ 1214
The article is also in the Astrophysical journal
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The Japanese researchers used the 8.2 meter Subaru telescope to make the find.
Super-earths are an emerging population of extrasolar planets whose masses and radii lie between those of the Earth and the Uranus/Neptune. The nature of super-Earths, such as internal structure and atmospheric compositions, remains almost unknown since there is no super-Earth in our Solar System. Transiting super-Earths are thus invaluable targets for observations to learn the nature of super-Earths in details.
GJ 1214b discovered by Charbonneau et al. (2009) is the first-ever transiting super-Earth around an M dwarf which enables us to study its atmosphere through so-called transmission spectroscopy, thanks to the small host star’s size (1/5th the radius of our sun).
Arxiv - Multi-Color Transit Photometry of GJ 1214b through BJHKs-Bands and a Long-Term Monitoring of the Stellar Variability of GJ 1214
The article is also in the Astrophysical journal
Read more »
