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Discovery of CoRoT-9b: a cool transiting Jupiter

18 March 2010

The CoRoT satellite has discovered the coolest Jupiter-like exoplanet so far to pass in front of its host star, enabling detailed studies of the planet.
 
This finding, by an international team of 60 astronomers, is published in Nature on 18 March.
 
The CoRoT satellite, operated by the French space agency CNES, has discovered a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a star similar to the Sun in the constellation Serpens Cauda, at a distance of 1500 light-years from the Earth.
 
The planet, named CoRoT-9b, has a very slightly eccentric orbit similar to that of Mercury around the Sun, and is fairly typical of the majority of exoplanets found so far. What makes it special is that it passes in front of its host star once per orbit. These so-called ‘transits’ can be used to measure the planet’s radius. All previously known transiting planets spend some or all of their time very close to their host star and so are much hotter.
 
Hans Deeg from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), lead author of the discovery paper, explained the significance of the discovery: ‘This is the first transiting planet with a fairly moderate temperature, between -20 and 150 degrees Celsius. It is extremely valuable because we can measure its density, which reflects its internal structure and composition.’
 
Co-author Claire Moutou, from the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, added: ‘CoRoT-9b also has great potential for future studies concerning its physical characteristics and atmosphere.’
 
‘Over the past decade, densities could be measured only for hot planets orbiting very close to their host stars,’ said Dr Suzanne Aigrain of Oxford University, also a co-author on the discovery paper. ‘Their evolution is completely dominated by the huge amount of radiation they receive from their host stars. CoRoT-9b is much cooler, and provides us with a clean, isolated test of our theories of how giant planets evolve.’
 
‘The planet is mostly made of Hydrogen and Helium,’ said Tristan Guillot from the Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur, ‘but it may contain up to 20 Earth masses of high-pressure ices and rocks. It is thus very similar to the Solar System’s giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn. Its density agrees well with theoretical expectations.’
 
The transits of CoRoT-9b were identified by CoRoT following a continuous observation of 150 days in the summer of 2008. The team then used a number of instruments on the ground, including the IAC-80 telescope in Tenerife and the HARPS spectrograph on the ESO 3.6-m telescope in Chile, to confirm that CoRoT-9b was indeed a planet and to measure its mass.
 
For more information contact Dr Hans Deeg (lead author) of Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, email hdeeg@iac.es or Dr Suzanne Aigrain (UK co-author) of Oxford University’s Department of Physics on 01865 273339 [mobile: 07549 939899] or email: Suzanne.Aigrain@astro.ox.ac.uk
 
Alternatively contact the University of Oxford Press Office on +44 (0)1865 283877 or email press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

Notes to editors

  •  A report of the research, ‘A transiting giant planet with a temperature between 250 K and 430 K’, is published in Nature on 18 March.
  • Dr Suzanne Aigrain leads a team of UK researchers at the Universities of Oxford, Exeter and St Andrews who participate in the CoRoT exoplanet program. Their research is supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Research Council.
  • The CoRoT (Convection, Rotation and Transits) space telescope was constructed by the French space agency CNES, with contributions from Austria, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Brazil and the European Space Agency (ESA). It was specifically designed to detect transiting exoplanets and study the interior structure of stars using seismology. CoRoT science operations started in early 2007 and are expected to continue until end 2012. 
  • The CoRoT exoplanet program also relies on preparatory and follow-up observations with a number of ground-based telescopes, including: the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias 80-cm telescope (IAC-80) at the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii, the 2.4-m Isaac Newton Telescope at the Observatorio Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma, the 40-cm and 1-m telescopes at Wise Observatory in Israel, the 2-m telescope of at the Landessternwarte Tautenburg in Germany, the Swiss Euler 1.2-m and ESO 3.6-m telescopes at La Silla Observatory in Chile, the Faulkes North Telescope of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network in Hawaii.