Discovery date April 15, 2000 Discovery site France | Discoverer(s) Mayor et al. Discovery status Confirmed | |
HD 202206 b is a substellar object orbiting the star HD 202206 approximately 151 light-years away in the constellation of Capricornus. The classification of this object as an extrasolar planet or a brown dwarf is currently unclear. With a mass at least 17.4 times that of Jupiter, it exceeds the limit (approximately 13 Jupiter masses) required for an object to sustain deuterium fusion in its core. The deuterium fusion criterion is used by the IAU's Working Group on Extrasolar Planets to define the boundary between giant planets and brown dwarfs, so in this view HD 202206 b is a brown dwarf. On the other hand, simulations of planet formation by core accretion show that objects of up to 25-30 Jupiter masses can be produced in this way, and therefore the object can potentially be regarded as a planet.