WASP-43b
WASP-43b, formally named Astrolábos, is a transiting planet in orbit around the young, active, and low-mass star WASP-43 in the constellation Sextans. The planet is a hot Jupiter with a mass twice that of Jupiter, but with a roughly equal radius. WASP-43b was flagged as a candidate by the SuperWASP program, before they conducted follow-ups using instruments at La Silla Observatory in Chile, which confirmed its existence and provided orbital and physical characteristics. The planet's discovery was published on April 14, 2011.
Exoplanet WASP-43b orbits its parent star. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Coel Hellier et al. |
| Discovery site | La Silla Observatory / South African Astronomical Observatory |
| Discovery date | Published April 15, 2011 |
| transit method (secondary occultation detected later) | |
| Designations | |
| Astrolábos | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| 0.01526 (± 0.00018) AU | |
| Eccentricity | < 0.0298 |
| 0.81347753 (± 0.00000071) d | |
| Inclination | 82.33 (± 0.20) |
| Star | WASP-43 |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 1.04 +0.07 −0.09 RJ |
| Mass | 2.03 (± 0.1) MJ |
| Albedo | <0.06 |
| Temperature | 1666±48 K |
At the time of its discovery, WASP-43b had an orbital period of approximately 0.8 days (19.2 hours), the second-shortest orbit ever detected, surpassed only by WASP-19b. In addition, at the time of discovery, WASP-43b was the most closely orbiting hot Jupiter known, a phenomenon that can most likely be explained by its host star's low mass.