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Five Planets Orbiting 55 Cancri*
Debra A. Fischer,Geoffrey W. Marcy,R. Paul Butler,Steven S. Vogt,Greg Laughlin,Gregory W. Henry,David Abouav,Kathryn M. G. Peek,Jason T. Wright,John A. Johnson
© 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
The Astrophysical Journal,Volume 675,Number 1Citation Debra A. Fischeret al 2008ApJ675 790DOI 10.1086/525512
Debra A. Fischer
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132
Geoffrey W. Marcy
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411
R. Paul Butler
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015-1305
Steven S. Vogt
AFFILIATIONS
UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Greg Laughlin
AFFILIATIONS
UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Gregory W. Henry
AFFILIATIONS
Center of Excellence in Information Systems, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard, Box 9501, Nashville, TN 37209
David Abouav
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132
Kathryn M. G. Peek
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411
Jason T. Wright
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411
John A. Johnson
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411
Chris McCarthy
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132
Howard Isaacson
AFFILIATIONS
Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132
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- Received2007 May 8
- Accepted2007 October 24
Abstract
We report 18 years of Doppler shift measurements of a nearby star, 55 Cancri, that exhibits strong evidence for five orbiting planets. The four previously reported planets are strongly confirmed here. A fifth planet is presented, with an apparent orbital period of 260 days, placing it 0.78 AU from the star in the large empty zone between two other planets. The velocity wobble amplitude of 4.9 m s−1 implies a minimum planet massMsin i = 45.7M⊕. The orbital eccentricity is consistent with a circular orbit, but modest eccentricity solutions give similar χ2ν fits. All five planets reside in low-eccentricity orbits, four having eccentricities under 0.1. The outermost planet orbits 5.8 AU from the star and has a minimum massMsin i = 3.8MJup, making it more massive than the inner four planets combined. Its orbital distance is the largest for an exoplanet with a well-defined orbit. The innermost planet has a semimajor axis of only 0.038 AU and has a minimum mass,Msini, of only 10.8M⊕, making it one of the lowest mass exoplanets known. The five known planets within 6 AU define a minimum-mass protoplanetary nebula to compare with the classical minimum-mass solar nebula. NumericalN-body simulations show this system of five planets to be dynamically stable and show that the planets with periods of 14.65 and 44.3 days are not in a mean motion resonance. Millimagnitude photometry during 11 years reveals no brightness variations at any of the radial velocity periods, providing support for their interpretation as planetary.
Footnotes
- *
Based on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated jointly by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology. Keck time has been granted by both NASA and the University of California.
