THE PLANETThe circle shows the location of the class G star 70 Virginis (in the constellation Virgo). The massive planet, at least 7.4 times more massive than Jupiter, orbits the star every 117 days, or 0.31 year, at a distance of 0.48 Astronomical Units from the star (72 million kilometers, 40 million miles, or 1.24 times the distance of Mercury from the Sun). The orbit is quite eccentric, the planet moving between 0.3 AU and 0.7 astronomical units, which is surprising given the closeness of the two. |