| Discovery[1][2] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Mitchell et al., Ortiz et al. |
| Discovery site | Lick Observatory |
| Discovery date | November 16, 2003 (announced) October 2016 (published) |
| Doppler spectroscopy | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 2451482.024 | |
| 1.0860+0.0006 −0.0007 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.05+0.03 −0.02 |
| 299.36+0.26 −0.31 d | |
| 301°+26° −85° | |
| 121°+28° −24° | |
| Star | HD 59686 A |
| Physical characteristics[2] | |
| Mass | ≥6.92+0.18 −0.24 MJ |
HD 59686 Ab is an exoplanet that orbits the giant star HD 59686 A in a close binary star system. It has a nearly circular orbit with a period of 300 days and a semi-major axis of 1.09 AU, slightly greater than the distance between Earth and the Sun. It has a minimum mass 6.9 times that of Jupiter, with the true mass depending on the orbital inclination, which is not yet known.[2] HD 59686 Ab was discovered by radial velocity and first announced in November 2003,[1] but the discovery was not formally published until 2016.[2]
HD 59686, along with Nu Octantis, is one of the closest binary star systems known to host a planet orbiting a single star (i.e., not a circumbinary planet), posing a challenge to theories of planet formation.[2]