14 Herculis

(The Planet Project)

THE PLANET(S)

The circle shows the location of the class K star 14 Herculis (in the constellation Hercules). The planet, which has a mass at least 4.6 times that of Jupiter, has one of the longer orbital periods, 4.9 years and orbits at a distance of 2.77 astronomical units from the star (416 million kilometers, 669 million miles, 53 percent that of Jupiter's distance from the Sun). The orbit is rather eccentric, the ellipse taking the planet from as close as 1.7 astronomical units to the star to as far as 3.8 astronomical units.

A second, unconfirmed, planet has been suggested much farther out, one with a mass at least 2.1 times that of Jupiter, a mean orbital radius of 6.9 AU, and a period of 18.9 years.

THE STAR

14 Herculis is a seventh magnitude star (6.67, just over the line) at a distance of 59 light years. A class K0 orange ordinary dwarf, it is is both cooler (about 5300 Kelvin) and a bit less massive than the Sun (90 percent), and shines with a luminosity about 60 percent solar. Like many planet-holding stars, it is metal-rich, with an iron content (relative to hydrogen) 2.7 times that of the Sun.