A Long‐Period Jupiter‐Mass Planet Orbiting the Nearby M Dwarf GJ 849

Creators: Butler, R. Paul; Johnson, John Asher; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Wright, Jason T.; Vogt, Steven S.; Fischer, Debra A.

Abstract

We report precise Doppler measurements of GJ 849 (M3.5 V) that reveal the presence of a planet with a minimum mass of 0.82M_Jup in a 5.16 yr orbit. At AU, GJ 849b is the first Doppler‐detected planet discovered around an M dwarf orbiting beyond 0.21 AU, and is only the second Jupiter‐mass planet discovered around a star less massive than 0.5 M_⊙. This detection brings to four the number of M stars known to harbor planets. Based on the results of our survey of 1300 FGKM main‐sequence stars we find that giant planets within 2.5 AU are ∼3 times more common around GK stars than around M stars. Due to GJ 849's proximity of 8.8 pc, the planet's angular separation is 0.27 , making this system a prime target for high‐resolution imaging using adaptive optics and future space‐borne missions such as the Space Interferometry Mission PlanetQuest. We also find evidence of a linear trend in the velocity time series, which may be indicative of an additional planetary companion.

Additional Information

© 2006 The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Received 2006 September 14; accepted 2006 October 30; published 2006 November 22. We acknowledge support by NSF grant AST 99‐88087 and NASA grant NAG5‐12182, and travel support from the Carnegie Institution of Washington (to R. P. B.), NASA grant NAG5‐8299 and NSF grant AST 95‐20443 (to G. W. M.), and NSF grant AST 03‐07493 (to S. S. V.). We thank NASA and the University of California for their allocations of Keck telescope time. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France, and the Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System database. Finally, the authors wish to extend thanks to those of Hawaiian ancestry on whose sacred mountain of Mauna Kea we are privileged to be guests. Without their generous hospitality, the Keck observations presented herein would not have been possible. Based on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated jointly by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology. Keck time has been granted by both NASA and the University of California.

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