Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-06-15
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
9 pages, A&A Accepted
Scientific paper
The GJ 581 planetary system was already known to harbour three planets, including two super-Earths planets which straddle its habitable zone. We report here the detection of an additional planet -- GJ 581e -- with a minimum mass of 1.9 M_earth. With a period of 3.15 days, it is the innermost planet of the system and has a ~5% transit probability. We also correct our previous confusion of the orbital period of GJ 581d (the outermost planet) with a one-year alias, thanks to an extended time span and many more measurements. The revised period is 66.8 days, and locates the semi-major axis inside the habitable zone of the low mass star. The dynamical stability of the 4-planet system imposes an upper bound on the orbital plane inclination. The planets cannot be more massive than approximately 1.6 times their minimum mass.
Bertaux Jean Loup
Beust Hervé
Bonfils Xavier
Bouchy Florent
Delfosse Xavier
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