COCONUTS-2b

COCONUTS-2b
COCONUTS-2b with unWISE. The planet in the center of the image stands out due to its red color. The host star is not pictured here.
Discovery
Discovered byZhoujian Zhang
Michael Liu
Zach Claytor
William Best
Trent Dupuy
Robert Siverd[1]
Discovery dateAugust 2011 (as a free-floating brown dwarf)[2]


July 2021 (as a planet)[3]
Direct imaging
Designations
WISEPA J075108.79-763449.6[2]
Orbital characteristics
7,506.0 AU (1.12288×1012 km)[4] or ~0.1185 ly
1,101,369.9 years[4]
StarL 34-26
Physical characteristics
1.11+0.03
−0.04 RJ[5]
Mass8±2 MJ[5]
log(g) = 4.19+0.18
−0.13 cgs[5]
Temperature483+44
−53 K[5]
Spectral type
T9.5±0.5[5]

COCONUTS-2 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits the M-type star L 34-26. With a mass of 8 Jupiters,[5] it takes over one million years to complete one orbit around the star orbiting 7,506 AU away from it.[1]

The planet was discovered in 2011 and was initially identified as a T9 free-floating brown dwarf WISEPA J075108.79−763449.6.[2] During the COol Companions ON Ultrawide orbiTS (COCONUTS) survey, its association with L 34-26 was announced in 2021.[6] At a distance of 35.5 light-years (10.9 parsecs), COCONUTS-2b was the closest directly imaged exoplanet to Earth[7] until Epsilon Indi Ab was imaged in 2024.

  1. ^ a b "Massive COCONUTS exoplanet discovery led by UH grad student | University of Hawaiʻi System News". University of Hawaiʻi News. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Cushing, Michael C.; Gelino, Christopher R.; Griffith, Roger L.; Skrutskie, Michael F.; Marsh, Kenneth A.; Wright, Edward L.; Mainzer, A.; Eisenhardt, Peter R.; McLean, Ian S.; Thompson, Maggie A.; Bauer, James M.; Benford, Dominic J.; Bridge, Carrie R.; Lake, Sean E. (2011-12-01). "The First Hundred Brown Dwarfs Discovered by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 197 (2): 19. arXiv:1108.4677. Bibcode:2011ApJS..197...19K. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/197/2/19. ISSN 0067-0049. S2CID 16850733.
  3. ^ Kooser, Amanda. "Massive exoplanet 'Coconuts-2b' could help reveal the secrets of young gas giants". CNET. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b "COCONUTS-2 b". Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference Zhang2024 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Exoplanet-catalog". Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System. Archived from the original on 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  7. ^ Siegel, Ethan. "Astronomers Go Nuts For Closest Exoplanet Directly Imaged Ever: COCONUTS-2b". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2021-11-22.