Discovery
HD 205739's designation is from the Henry Draper catalogue. The star was also observed by Hipparcos, which released its catalogue in 1997. The observations that led to the discovery of the planet HD 205739 b started when the N2K Consortium started an extended search for planets around 300 stars not usually targeted by Doppler spectroscopy surveys. In the case of HD 205739, the star was observed using the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. HD 205739 was selected primarily because it was a metal-rich star; the N2K collaboration biased their search towards metal-rich stars with closely orbiting Jupiter-size planets, hoping to find a connection between a star's metallicity and its planets' masses.
HD 205739 was flagged originally as a candidate hosting a Hot Jupiter, which is a large gas giant that orbits closely to its star, although later observations suggested that the planetary candidate orbited further out over the next 3.5 years of observation.
The star was studied through the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle spectrograph's (MIKE) ability to use Doppler spectroscopy to measure radial velocity. Twenty-four measurements were recorded for HD 205739. The measurements were analyzed for accuracy. They were then used to derive the planet's characteristics, which led to the planet's confirmation.
The team of astronomers, which were from the United States, Chile, and the Vatican City, sent the paper to the Astronomical Journal on April 7, 2008. The paper was accepted, and was later published on October 7, 2008.
Read more about this topic: HD 205739 B
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