NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)TOI-1338 b
The TESS circumbinary planet found by a 17-year-old intern
Overview
TOI-1338 b is a Saturn-sized exoplanet orbiting the binary star system TOI-1338. It is a circumbinary planet, meaning it orbits both stars. The planet and its two stars are located in the constellation Pictor, about 1,300 light-years from Earth. It is the innermost planet of the TOI-1338 planetary system, orbiting the stars' center of mass every 95 days at an average distance of 0.46 astronomical units. The planet has an average temperature of 630 K. When viewed from Earth, the planet transits or passes in front of its parent stars and blocks out some of their light, allowing it to be detected by telescopes.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: TOI-1338 b is a Neptune-like exoplanet that orbits a G-type star. Its mass is 11.3 Earths, it takes 95.4 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.4607 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2020.
Why it matters
- Spotted in 2019 by high-school intern Wolf Cukier on his third day at NASA Goddard.
- Saturn-sized, orbiting two stars every 95 days about 1,300 light-years away.
- A second planet found by radial velocity in 2023 made it the first circumbinary system detected by both methods.
NASA puts it this way: “TOI-1338 b is a Neptune-like exoplanet that orbits an F-type star. Its mass is 33 Earths, it takes 95.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.4607 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2020.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2020 · Transit · Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
- Discovery paper
- Kostov et al. 2020
- Host star
- TOI-1338 A · F8 · 5,723 K · 1.09 M☉
- System
- 2 known planets, 2 stars (circumbinary)
- Siblings
- TOI-1338 c
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOI-1338 b | 95.4 d | 0.461 AU | 0.68 R♃ | 11.3 M⊕ | 255 K |
| TOI-1338 c | 215.8 d | 0.794 AU | 0.92 R♃ | 75.4 M⊕ | 355 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 0.68 R♃7.7 R⊕
- Mass
- 11.3 M⊕67.49 ×10²⁴ kg
- Orbital period
- 95.4 d0.26 yr
- Distance from star
- 0.461 AU69 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0.033nearly circular
- Equilibrium temp.
- 255 K-18 °C
- Starlight received
- 0.99 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 1,301 ly399 pc
- Density
- 0.56 g/cm³0.1 × 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.