70 Virginis

(The Planet Project)

THE PLANET

The 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.

THE STAR

70 Virginis is an easily seen mid-fifth magnitude (4.98) G2.5 ordinary dwarf 59 light years away with a surface temperature of 5400 Kelvin, just a bit cooler than the Sun. However, its luminosity of about three times solar suggests a mass some 10-20 percent greater than solar. The class is uncertain; the star is sometimes listed as G4 or G5, consistent with the cooler temperature.

61 Virginis also has a star with an orbiting planet.
Written by Jim Kaler. Return to The Planet Project or go to STARS.