Discovery date 1989 Discovery status Confirmed | Discoverer(s) David Latham, et al. | |
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HD 114762 b is a massive gaseous extrasolar planet, approximately 132 light-years (40.6 pc) away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. This optically undetected companion to the late F-type main-sequence star HD 114762 was discovered in 1989 by Latham, et al., and confirmed in an October 1991 paper by Cochran, et al.
The companion orbits its star every 83.9 days at an approximate distance of 0.35 AU, with an orbital eccentricity of 0.34; for comparison, this orbit is similar to that of Mercury but with twice the eccentricity. Depending on inclination angle, it has a minimum mass of 7001110690000000000♠11.069±0.063 MJ (at 90°) and a maximum mass of approximately 63.2 MJ (at 10°).
HD 114762 b may be the first extrasolar planet ever detected, predating the 1992 pulsar planets found around PSR B1257+12 and main-sequence yellow dwarf 51 Pegasi. By 2012, its status as an exoplanet was confirmed. At an event celebrating the career of discoverer Dr. David Latham and attended by his colleagues and collaborators, the planet was informally dubbed "Latham's Planet". However, this name has no official standing with the International Astronomical Union.