Orbit and Mass
Unlike the planets in our solar system, the planet's orbit is highly elliptical, and its distance varies from 0.54 AU at periastron to 2.8 AU at apastron. This high eccentricity may have been caused by tidal interactions in the binary star system, and the planet's orbit may vary chaotically between low and high-eccentricity states over a period of tens of millions of years.
Preliminary astrometric measurements in 2001 suggested the orbit of 16 Cygni Bb may be highly inclined with respect to our line of sight (at around 173°). This would mean the object's mass may be around 14 times that of Jupiter; the dividing line between planets and brown dwarfs is at 13 Jupiter masses. However these measurements were later proved useful only for upper limits.
A mathematical study in 2012 showed that a mass of about 2.4 Jupiter masses would be most stable in this system. This would make the body a true planet. With these tidal effects at that age, a gas giant would be most stable.
Read more about this topic: 16 Cygni Bb
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