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HD 80606 and HD 80607 are two stars comprising a binary star system approximately 190 light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. Both stars orbit each other at an average distance of 1,200 astronomical units. The binary system is listed as Σ1341 in the Struve Catalogue of Double Stars, however this designation is not in wide use and the system is usually referred to by the HD designations of its constituent stars. An extrasolar planet has been confirmed to orbit HD 80606 in a highly elliptical orbit.
Planetary system
Naef's team in 2001 discovered HD 80606 b. Its orbit is misaligned with the star's rotation at 53 degrees. Additional studies using the Spitzer Space Telescope in the infrared, and the Very Large Array in the millimeter radio, have shown that the highly eccentric planet 'b' orbiting HD 80606 grazes the parent star at its closest passage to produce difficult-to-detect stellar lobing, severe 'space weather', aurorae and other non-thermal activity.
At the time, its orbit was the most eccentric orbit of any extrasolar planet known. It has an eccentricity of 0.9336, comparable to that of Comet Halley in the Solar System. The eccentricity may be a result of the Kozai mechanism, which would occur if the planet's orbit is significantly inclined to that of the binary stars. This conclusion is reinforced by the detection of the misalignment, an expected result of the Kozai mechanism.
In a simulation of a 10 million year span, the planet "sweeps clean" most test particles within 1.75 AU of HD 80606. The 8:1 resonance hollows out another Kirkwood gap at 1.9 AU. There cannot be any habitable planets in this system. Also, observation has ruled out planets heavier than 0.7 Jupiter mass with a period of one year or less.