IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v465y2010i7301d10.1038_nature09111.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The orbital motion, absolute mass and high-altitude winds of exoplanet HD 209458b

Author

Listed:
  • Ignas A. G. Snellen

    (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands)

  • Remco J. de Kok

    (SRON, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands)

  • Ernst J. W. de Mooij

    (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands)

  • Simon Albrecht

    (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
    and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA)

Abstract

An exoplanet's mass Most of the known exoplanets were discovered using the radial velocity method, measuring the 'wobble' induced in the host stars by their orbiting companions. If the orbital velocity of the planet can also be determined, it becomes possible to calculate the masses of both the star and its exoplanet without the need for further assumptions or model dependencies. That has now been achieved for the well-studied 'hot Jupiter' HD 209458b, based on spectroscopic measurements of the changing Doppler shift of molecular absorption lines of carbon monoxide, observed as the planet passed between its host star and the Earth. The masses of the star and planet are 1.00±0.22 solar masses and 0.64±0.09 jovian masses respectively. Also revealed — as blueshift of the carbon monoxide signal with respect to host star velocity — a strong wind flowing at high altitude from the irradiated dayside to the non-irradiated nightside of the planet.

Suggested Citation

  • Ignas A. G. Snellen & Remco J. de Kok & Ernst J. W. de Mooij & Simon Albrecht, 2010. "The orbital motion, absolute mass and high-altitude winds of exoplanet HD 209458b," Nature, Nature, vol. 465(7301), pages 1049-1051, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:465:y:2010:i:7301:d:10.1038_nature09111
    DOI: 10.1038/nature09111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09111
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature09111?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:465:y:2010:i:7301:d:10.1038_nature09111. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.