Issue |
A&A
Volume 426, Number 1, October IV 2004
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | L19 - L23 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200400076 | |
Published online | 05 October 2004 |
Letter to the Editor
The HARPS survey for southern extra-solar planets*
II. A 14 Earth-masses exoplanet around μ Arae
1
Centro de Astronomia e Astrofísica da Universidade de Lisboa, Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: nuno.santos@oal.ul.pt
2
Observatoire de Genève, 51 ch. des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland
3
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, Traverse du Siphon, 13013 Marseille, France
4
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
5
Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
6
Service d'Aéronomie du CNRS, BP 3, 91371 Verrières-le-Buisson, France
7
European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
8
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire de Grenoble, 414 rue de la piscine, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères, France
Received:
25
August
2004
Accepted:
10
September
2004
In this letter we present the discovery of a very light planetary companion
to the star μ Ara (HD 160691). The planet orbits its host once every 9.5 days,
and induces a sinusoidal radial velocity signal with a semi-amplitude
of 4.1 m s-1, the smallest Doppler amplitude detected so far. These values
imply a mass of 14
(Earth-masses).
This detection represents the discovery of a planet with a mass slightly smaller
than that of Uranus, the smallest “ice giant” in our Solar System. Whether this
planet can be considered an ice giant or a super-earth planet is
discussed in the context of the core-accretion and migration models.
Key words: stars: individual: HD 160691 / planetary systems / techniques: radial velocities
© ESO, 2004
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