A

David

Darling

14 Herculis

14 Herculis

14 Herculis. Image: Digitized Sky Survey.


14 Herculis is an orange-yellow K-star around which an exoplanet has been found. The heavy element abundance of 14 Herculis is greater than that of the Sun and the discovery that it has a massive planet lends support to the idea that such large worlds tend to form in heavy element enriched environments. The planetary companion of 14 Herculis has a mass almost five times that of Jupiter and moves in an eccentric orbit about its host star with a period of 4.9 years. The discovery of second possible planet around 14 Herculis was announced in 2005.

 

Host star
distance 59 light-years (18.1 pc)
spectral type K0V
apparent magnitude 6.67
temperature 4,980 °C (5,250 K)
luminosity (Sun=1) 0.75
mass (Sun=1) 0.79
metallicity ([Fe]/[H]) 0.35
position RA 16h 10m 24.3s, Dec +43° 49' 03.5"
other designations HD 145675, HIP 79248, Gl 614, BD+44 2549

 

Planet
mass (Jupiter=1) 4.74 ± 0.06
semimajor axis 2.8 AU (420 million km, 260 million mi)
orbital period 1796.4 ± 8.3 days
eccentricity 0.338 ± 0.011
discovery 1998, Mayor et al (Geneva), Haute-Provence Observatory
method of discovery radial velocity