Discovery
Gliese 876 b was discovered independently by two different teams, one led by Geoffrey Marcy (with data from Keck Observatory and Lick Observatory) and the other by Xavier Delfosse (at Geneva Observatory). Like the majority of known extrasolar planets, it was discovered by detecting variations in its star's radial velocity as a result of the planet's gravity. This was done by making sensitive measurements of the Doppler shift of the spectral lines of Gliese 876. It was the first discovered of four known planets in the Gliese 876 system.
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