GQ Lupi b

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GQ Lupi b
Exoplanet Comparison GQ Lupi b.png
Size comparison of GQ Lupi b (at Neuhäuser et al. estimate) with Jupiter.
Discovery
Discovered by Neuhäuser et al.
Discovery site ESO's Paranal Observatory,
Chile
Discovery dateApril 2005
Imaged
Orbital characteristics [1]
97.7+8.9
−7.1  au
Eccentricity 0.35+0.10
−0.09
900 –1200 years
Inclination 48° +4°
−5°
257°+8°
−5°
176°+10°
−24°
Star GQ Lupi
Physical characteristics
3.77 [2] RJ
Mass ~ 20±10 [3] MJ
4.0 [2] cgs
Temperature 2700 [2] K

    GQ Lupi b, or GQ Lupi B, [4] [2] is a possible extrasolar planet, brown dwarf or sub-brown dwarf orbiting the star GQ Lupi. Its discovery was announced in April 2005, less than a month before the full confirmation of 2M1207b was announced. Along with 2M1207b, this was one of the first extrasolar planet candidates to be directly imaged. The image was made with the European Southern Observatory's VLT telescope at the Paranal Observatory, Chile on June 25, 2004. [5] [6]

    Contents

    VLT NACO image, taken in the Ks-band, of GQ Lupi. The feeble point of light to the right of the star is the newly found cold companion. It is 250 times fainter than the star itself and it located 0.73 arc second west. At the distance of GQ Lupi, this corresponds to a distance of roughly 100 AU. North is up and East is to the left. The Sub-Stellar Companion to GQ Lupi.jpg
    VLT NACO image, taken in the Ks-band, of GQ Lupi. The feeble point of light to the right of the star is the newly found cold companion. It is 250 times fainter than the star itself and it located 0.73 arc second west. At the distance of GQ Lupi, this corresponds to a distance of roughly 100 AU. North is up and East is to the left.

    GQ Lupi b has a spectral type between M6 and L0, corresponding to a temperature between 2050 and 2650 kelvins. [7] Located at a projected separation of about 98 AU from its companion star, its orbital period is estimated to be around a millenium. [1] Because the theoretical models which are used to predict planetary masses for objects in young star systems like GQ Lupi b are still tentative, the mass cannot be precisely specified — models place GQ Lupi b's mass anywhere between a few Jupiter masses and 36 Jupiter masses, with a best estimate of ~ 20 MJ. [7] At the higher end of this range, GQ Lupi b could be classified as a small brown dwarf, but at the lower end of this range, it could be classified as an extremely large Jupiter-like exoplanet rather than a brown dwarf. Recent estimates made in the 2020s still place it at a most likely mass of 20 MJ -- 30 MJ, which would make it a brown dwarf, [8] [2] [9] while several determined mass ranges still extend into the planetary mass regime. [2] [1] [3]

    As of 2006, the International Astronomical Union Working Group on Extrasolar Planets described GQ Lupi b as a "possible planetary-mass companion to a young star." [10] GQ Lupi b is listed as a "confirmed planet" as of 2020. [11]

    Accretion disk

    Emission by hydrogen in the near-infrared (paschen beta) was first detected in 2007 with the Very Large Telescope (VLT). This was interpreted as a sign of accretion of material from a disk. [12] Additionally H-alpha emission was detected with Hubble. [13] H-alpha was also detected with the Magellan Telescope, but the disk was not detected with ALMA. [14] An analysis of additional VLT data showed a mutual inclination with the circumstellar disk of 84 ± 9°. This hints to a turbulent formation of the disk around GQ Lupi b. The researchers suspect the disk to be in a transitional stage in which satellites (similar to exomoons) opened a gap within the disk, indicating a late stage of the disk. The accretion rate was estimated to be 10−6.5 MJ/year. [15] A study from 2023 with additional VLT data found the emission line to be variable on timescales of several months to decades. The observations were consistent with magnetospheric accretion. [16] Mid-infrared observations with JWST MIRI did not show any silicate features from the disk. This indicates grain growth and dust settling. Additionally the disk could have an inner cavity that is larger than allowed by sublimation. [17]

    See also

    References

    1. 1 2 3 Venkatesan, Vidya; et al. (2025). "Constraints on the Orbit of the Young Substellar Companion GQ Lup B from High-Resolution Spectroscopy and VLTI/GRAVITY Astrometry". arXiv: 2509.20621 [astro-ph.EP].
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stolker, Tomas; Haffert, Sebastiaan Y.; Kesseli, Aurora Y.; van Holstein, Rob G.; Aoyama, Yuhiko; Brinchmann, Jarle; Cugno, Gabriele; Girard, Julien H.; Marleau, Gabriel-Dominique; Cugno, Gabriele; Meyer, Michael R.; Milli, Julien; Quanz, Sascha P.; Snellen, Ignas A. G.; Todorov, Kamen O. (2021). "Characterizing the Protolunar Disk of the Accreting Companion GQ Lupi B". The Astronomical Journal. 162 (6): 286. arXiv: 2110.04307 . Bibcode:2021AJ....162..286S. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac2c7f . S2CID   238582841.
    3. 1 2 Sun 孙, Xilei 锡磊; Huang 黄, Pinghui 平辉; Dong 董, Ruobing 若冰; Liu 刘, Shang-Fei 尚飞 (2024-09-01). "Observational Characteristics of Circumplanetary-mass-object Disks in the Era of James Webb Space Telescope". The Astrophysical Journal. 972 (1): 25. arXiv: 2406.09501 . Bibcode:2024ApJ...972...25S. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad57c2. ISSN   0004-637X.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
    4. ↑ Alcalá, J. M.; et al. (28 February 2020). "2MASS J15491331-3539118: a new low-mass wide companion of the GQ Lup system". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 635: L1. arXiv: 2001.10879 . Bibcode:2020A&A...635L...1A. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201937309 .
    5. ↑ Is this a Brown Dwarf or an Exoplanet? New Young Sub-stellar Companion Imaged with the VLT Archived 2008-05-07 at the Wayback Machine , ESO Press Release 09/05, April 7, 2005. Accessed on line June 13, 2008.
    6. ↑ Neuhäuser, R.; Guenther, E. W.; Wuchterl, G.; Mugrauer, M.; Bedalov, A.; Hauschildt, P. H. (May 2005). "Evidence for a co-moving sub-stellar companion of GQ Lup". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 435 (1): L13 –L16. arXiv: astro-ph/0503691 . Bibcode:2005A&A...435L..13N. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200500104. ISSN   0004-6361.
    7. 1 2 Neuhäuser, R.; Mugrauer, M.; Seifahrt, A.; Schmidt, T. O. B.; Vogt, N. (June 2008). "Astrometric and photometric monitoring of GQ Lupi and its sub-stellar companion". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 484 (1): 281–291. arXiv: 0801.2287 . Bibcode:2008A&A...484..281N. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078493. ISSN   0004-6361.
    8. ↑ Xuan, Jerry W.; Hsu, Chih-Chun; Finnerty, Luke; Wang, Jason; Ruffio, Jean-Baptiste; Zhang, Yapeng; Knutson, Heather A.; Mawet, Dimitri; Mamajek, Eric E.; Inglis, Julie; Wallack, Nicole L.; Bryan, Marta L.; Blake, Geoffrey A.; Mollière, Paul; Hejazi, Neda (2024-07-01). "Are These Planets or Brown Dwarfs? Broadly Solar Compositions from High-resolution Atmospheric Retrievals of ∼10–30 MJup Companions". The Astrophysical Journal. 970 (1): 71. arXiv: 2405.13128 . Bibcode:2024ApJ...970...71X. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad4796 . ISSN   0004-637X.
    9. ↑ Horstman, Katelyn; Ruffio, Jean-Baptiste; Batygin, Konstantin; Mawet, Dimitri; Baker, Ashley; Hsu, Chih-Chun; Wang, Jason J.; Wang, Ji; Blunt, Sarah (2024-08-19). "RV measurements of directly imaged brown dwarf GQ Lup B to search for exo-satellites". The Astronomical Journal. 168 (4): 175. arXiv: 2408.10299 . Bibcode:2024AJ....168..175H. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad73d8 .
    10. ↑ Lists of Extrasolar Planets Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine , IAU Working Group on Extrasolar Planets, August 28, 2006. Accessed on line June 13, 2008.
    11. ↑ openexoplanetcatalogue.com GQ Lup
    12. ↑ Seifahrt, A.; Neuhäuser, R.; Hauschildt, P. H. (2007-02-01). "Near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy of the companion to GQ Lupi". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 463 (1): 309–313. arXiv: astro-ph/0612250 . Bibcode:2007A&A...463..309S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066463. ISSN   0004-6361.
    13. ↑ Zhou, Yifan; Herczeg, Gregory J.; Kraus, Adam L.; Metchev, Stanimir; Cruz, Kelle L. (2014-03-01). "Accretion onto Planetary Mass Companions of Low-mass Young Stars". The Astrophysical Journal. 783 (1): L17. arXiv: 1401.6545 . Bibcode:2014ApJ...783L..17Z. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/783/1/L17. ISSN   0004-637X.
    14. ↑ Wu, Ya-Lin; Sheehan, Patrick D.; Males, Jared R.; Close, Laird M.; Morzinski, Katie M.; Teske, Johanna K.; Haug-Baltzell, Asher; Merchant, Nirav; Lyons, Eric (2017-02-01). "An ALMA and MagAO Study of the Substellar Companion GQ Lup B*". The Astrophysical Journal. 836 (2): 223. arXiv: 1701.07541 . Bibcode:2017ApJ...836..223W. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa5b96 . ISSN   0004-637X.
    15. ↑ Stolker, Tomas; Haffert, Sebastiaan Y.; Kesseli, Aurora Y.; van Holstein, Rob G.; Aoyama, Yuhiko; Brinchmann, Jarle; Cugno, Gabriele; Girard, Julien H.; Marleau, Gabriel-Dominique; Meyer, Michael R.; Milli, Julien; Quanz, Sascha P.; Snellen, Ignas A. G.; Todorov, Kamen O. (2021-12-01). "Characterizing the Protolunar Disk of the Accreting Companion GQ Lupi B". The Astronomical Journal. 162 (6): 286. arXiv: 2110.04307 . Bibcode:2021AJ....162..286S. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac2c7f . ISSN   0004-6256.
    16. ↑ Demars, D.; Bonnefoy, M.; Dougados, C.; Aoyama, Y.; Thanathibodee, T.; Marleau, G. -D.; Tremblin, P.; Delorme, P.; Palma-Bifani, P.; Petrus, S.; Bowler, B. P.; Chauvin, G.; Lagrange, A. -M. (2023-08-01). "Emission line variability of young 10-30 MJup companions. I. The case of GQ Lup b and GSC 06214-00210 b". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 676: A123. arXiv: 2305.09460 . Bibcode:2023A&A...676A.123D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202346221. ISSN   0004-6361.
    17. ↑ Cugno, Gabriele; Patapis, Polychronis; Banzatti, Andrea; Meyer, Michael; Dannert, Felix A.; Stolker, Tomas; MacDonald, Ryan J.; Pontoppidan, Klaus M. (2024-05-01). "Mid-infrared Spectrum of the Disk around the Forming Companion GQ Lup B Revealed by JWST/MIRI". The Astrophysical Journal. 966 (1): L21. arXiv: 2404.07086 . Bibcode:2024ApJ...966L..21C. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad3cbc . ISSN   0004-637X.
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