HD 20367 Arietis

(The Planet Project)

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THE PLANET

The circle shows the location of the class G dwarf star HD 20367 relative to stars of Perseus, which is depicted here. Though actually in Aries, the star is just barely over the formal border between the two constellations. HD 20367's planet, with a mass at least 1.07 times that of Jupiter, orbits with a period of 500 days, or 1.37 years, at an average distance of 1.25 Astronomical Units (187 million kilometers, 117 million miles), or 25 percent farther than the Earth is from the Sun. A modest orbital eccentricity takes the planet from as far as 1.54 AU from its parent star to 0.96 AU.

THE STAR

HD 20367 is a faint-sixth magnitude (6.41) class G0 dwarf star technically in Aries that lies just over the constellation's border with Perseus, to which it appears better related. It also lies just below the limit of naked eye vision, but is plenty bright enough to find with binoculars. Too faint to have a proper or Greek letter name, or even Flamsteed number, it is known best by its number in Henry Draper (HD) Catalogue . From a distance of 88 light years, it shines with a luminosity 1.64 times that of the Sun, but with a higher surface temperature of 6120 Kelvin, 340 Kelvin warmer than the Sun. That combination gives a respective radius and mass 1.14 and 1.20 times greater than solar and shows the star to be a very young hydrogen-fusing dwarf. Like most stars with planets, HD 20367 is rich in metals, the iron abundance (relative to hydrogen) 1.48 times that of the Sun.
Written by Jim Kaler. Return to The Planet Project or go to STARS.