14 Herculis

14 Herculis
Image: Digitized Sky Survey

An orange-yellow K-star around which an extrasolar planet 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. This puts it in the category of classical jovians along with the companion of 47 Ursae Majoris, which it most closely resembles. 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	R.A. 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 miles)
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

Related categories

• NOTABLE STARS
• EXTRASOLAR PLANETS AND SUBSTELLAR OBJECTS

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