Discovery date January 28, 2009 Discovery status Published | Discoverer(s) Howard et al. | |
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HD 7924 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 54 light years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia, orbiting the 7th magnitude K-type main sequence (slightly metal poor) star HD 7924. It was published on January 28, 2009 and is the second planet discovered in the constellation Cassiopeia. (The first planet discovered in this constellation is HD 17156 b, which was published on April 14, 2007).
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Super-Earth
HD 7924 b is a super-Earth exoplanet with a minimum mass 9.2 times that of Earth and takes only about 129.5 hours to orbit the star, at an average distance of 8,500,000 km (5,300,000 mi). When HD 7924 b was discovered in 2009, it was one of only eight planets known with a minimum mass less than 10 Earths. Also a super-Earth discovery makes 2009 the fifth year in a row since 2005 to have super-Earth planets discovered.
Characteristics
While the radius of HD 7924 b is unknown, depending on its composition, it will be between 1.4–6 times the diameter of the Earth. It is unknown whether this planet is rocky or gaseous. Since the true mass of this planet is not known, it might be gaseous if the true mass is considerably more than minimum mass. If the true mass is near the minimum mass of 9.2 ME, then this planet could be rocky.