HD 12661 - Planetary System

Planetary System

The first planet was discovered in 2001 from the Lick and Keck observatories using precision measurements of the star's radial velocity variations. The periodicity in this variation allowed astronomers to extract information about the planet's orbit and minimum mass. A second planet was discovered by the same team two years later. Both planets are greater in mass than Jupiter.

The system is dynamically unstable. "Either this system is being observed during a relatively rare state, or additional planets are affecting the observed radial velocities and/or the system’s secular eccentricity evolution."

The HD 12661 system
Companion
Mass Semimajor axis
Orbital period
Eccentricity Radius
b >2.30 ± 0.19 MJ 0.831 ± 0.048 262.709 ± 0.083 0.3768 ± 0.0077
c >1.92 ± 0.16 MJ 2.90 ± 0.17 1708 ± 14 0.031 ± 0.022

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