Discovery date 24 November 1998 Discovery site France | Discoverer(s) Mayor et al. Discovery status Published | |
Gliese 86 b, sometimes referred to as Gliese 86 Ab (so as to distinguish the planet from companion star "B") and or shortened to Gl 86 b, is an extrasolar planet approximately 36 light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. The planet was discovered orbiting a K-type main-sequence star (Gliese 86) by French scientists in November 1998. The planet orbits very close to the star, completing an orbit in 15.78 days.
The preliminary astrometric measurements made with the Hipparcos space probe suggest the planet has an orbital inclination of 164.0° and a mass 15 times that of Jupiter, which would make the object a brown dwarf. However, further analysis suggests the Hipparcos measurements are not precise enough to reliably determine astrometric orbits of substellar companions, thus the orbital inclination and true mass of the candidate planet remain unknown.
The radial velocity measurements of Gliese 86 show a linear trend once the motion due to this planet are taken out. This may be associated with the orbital motion of the white dwarf companion star.
Star Gliese 86 B, the second star in the binary system, it is a DQ6, with a mass 0.590 of the Sun, with a 8180K temperature.