NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)CoRoT-7b
The first confirmed rocky exoplanet — a lava world with 20-hour years
Overview
CoRoT-7b is an exoplanet orbiting the star CoRoT-7 in the constellation of Monoceros, 520 light-years from the Earth. It was first detected photometrically by the French-led CoRoT mission and reported in February 2009. Until the announcement of Kepler-10b in January 2011, it was the smallest exoplanet to have its diameter measured, at 1.58 times that of the Earth and the first potential extrasolar terrestrial planet to be found. The exoplanet has a very short orbital period, revolving around its host star in about 20 hours.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: CoRoT-7 b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 4.07660518 Earths, it takes 0.9 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.017016 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2009.
Why it matters
- Discovered by the French CoRoT space telescope in 2009; its density showed it must be rock.
- Dayside temperatures above 2,000 K probably keep a permanent magma ocean molten.
- Models suggest its atmosphere is vaporised rock that rains back as pebbles.
NASA puts it this way: “CoRoT-7 b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 4.07661 Earths, it takes 0.9 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.017016 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2009.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2009 · Transit · CoRoT
- Discovery paper
- Leger et al. 2009
- Host star
- CoRoT-7 · G9 V · 5,275 K · 0.82 M☉
- System
- 3 known planets
- Siblings
- CoRoT-7 d, CoRoT-7 c
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CoRoT-7 b | 20.5 h | 0.017 AU | 1.68 R⊕ | 4.08 M⊕ | 1,756 K |
| CoRoT-7 c | 3.7 d | 0.046 AU | 2.83 R⊕ | 8.4 M⊕ | 1,099 K |
| CoRoT-7 d | 8.97 d | 0.079 AU | 0.38 R♃ | 17.14 M⊕ | — |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1.68 R⊕10,712 km
- Mass
- 4.08 M⊕24.35 ×10²⁴ kg
- Orbital period
- 20.5 h
- Distance from star
- 0.017 AU2.55 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0nearly circular
- Equilibrium temp.
- 1,756 K1,483 °C
- Starlight received
- 1,774 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 522 ly159.9 pc
- Density
- 9.36 g/cm³1.7 × Earth
Sources
Image: NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork) · NASA media: generally free of copyright · image page
Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Taglines and highlights are editorial.