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Title:
A super-Earth transiting a nearby low-mass star
Authors:
Charbonneau, David; Berta, Zachory K.; Irwin, Jonathan; Burke, Christopher J.; Nutzman, Philip; Buchhave, Lars A.; Lovis, Christophe; Bonfils, Xavier; Latham, David W.; Udry, Stéphane; Murray-Clay, Ruth A.; Holman, Matthew J.; Falco, Emilio E.; Winn, Joshua N.; Queloz, Didier; Pepe, Francesco; Mayor, Michel; Delfosse, Xavier; Forveille, Thierry
Affiliation:
AA(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AB(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AC(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AD(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AE(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AF(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AG(Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland), AH(Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland), AI(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AJ(Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland), AK(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AL(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AM(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA), AN(Department of Physics, Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA), AO(Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland), AP(Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland), AQ(Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland), AR(Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (LAOG), UMR 5571, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 09, France), AS(Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (LAOG), UMR 5571, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 09, France)
Publication:
Nature, Volume 462, Issue 7275, pp. 891-894 (2009). (Nature Homepage)
Publication Date:
12/2009
Origin:
NATURE
DOI:
10.1038/nature08679
Bibliographic Code:
2009Natur.462..891C

Abstract

A decade ago, the detection of the first transiting extrasolar planet provided a direct constraint on its composition and opened the door to spectroscopic investigations of extrasolar planetary atmospheres. Because such characterization studies are feasible only for transiting systems that are both nearby and for which the planet-to-star radius ratio is relatively large, nearby small stars have been surveyed intensively. Doppler studies and microlensing have uncovered a population of planets with minimum masses of 1.9-10 times the Earth's mass (M), called super-Earths. The first constraint on the bulk composition of this novel class of planets was afforded by CoRoT-7b (refs 8, 9), but the distance and size of its star preclude atmospheric studies in the foreseeable future. Here we report observations of the transiting planet GJ1214b, which has a mass of 6.55M and a radius 2.68 times Earth's radius (R), indicating that it is intermediate in stature between Earth and the ice giants of the Solar System. We find that the planetary mass and radius are consistent with a composition of primarily water enshrouded by a hydrogen-helium envelope that is only 0.05% of the mass of the planet. The atmosphere is probably escaping hydrodynamically, indicating that it has undergone significant evolution during its history. The star is small and only 13parsecs away, so the planetary atmosphere is amenable to study with current observatories.
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