Magnitude 11.668 Apparent magnitude (V) 11.668 | Constellation Monoceros | |
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Similar COROT‑7b, COROT‑1, COROT‑2, Gliese 1214, CoRoT‑2b | ||
COROT-7 (TYC 4799-1733-1) is a G-type main sequence star, slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun. It has an apparent magnitude 11.67, fainter than Proxima Centauri (mag. 11.05), the nearest star to the Sun. This star is located in the Monoceros constellation.
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Location and properties
The star is located in the LRa01 field of view of the COROT spacecraft. It is about 500 light years from earth. According to the project website, this field is in the Monoceros constellation. Published data lists the stellar properties as being a G9V yellow dwarf with a temperature of 5250 K, a radius of about 82% of the Sun and a mass of about 91% of the Sun. But other sources have been known to list it is a (K0V) orange dwarf. The metallicity, i.e. the quantity [M/H] of the star, which is the base-10 logarithm of the ratio of the star's metal abundance (given by the ratio of metals to hydrogen) to that of the Sun is 0.12 ± 0.06. The star is estimated to be about 150 parsecs away and with an age in the range 1.2 – 2.3 billion years, is younger than our own star which has an age of 4.6 billion years. The rotation period of the star, inferred by the lightcurve obtained by COROT, is around 23 days.
Planetary system
The star is reported to be orbited by the super-Earth extrasolar planets COROT-7b and COROT-7c, both discovered in 2009. The existence of a possible third planet COROT-7d, detected in a published study, remains unconfirmed. The discovery of the inner planet was made using the astronomical transit method by the COROT program. CoRoT-7b is notable for its small size.
This star was reported to have stellar activity, making the confirmation process for CoRoT-7b more difficult. In fact, mass estimates are affected by large uncertainty due to stellar activity, that perturbs the radial velocity measurements needed to "weigh" the planets.