L 98-59 b

Last updated
L 98-59 b
L 98-59 b.jpg
Artist's impression and size comparison with Earth and Mars
Discovery [1]
Discovery dateMarch 2019
Transit
Orbital characteristics [2]
0.02191+0.00080
−0.00084  AU
Eccentricity 0.103+0.117
−0.045
2.2531136+0.0000012
−0.0000015  d
Inclination 87.71°+1.16°
−0.44°
Semi-amplitude 0.56±0.16  m/s [3]
Star L 98-59
Physical characteristics [2]
0.850+0.061
−0.047  R🜨
Mass 0.47+0.13
−0.15  M🜨 [3]
Mean density
4.3+1.2
−1.9  g/cm3 [3]
Temperature 627+33
−36  K (354 °C; 669 °F, equilibrium)

    L 98-59 b is an exoplanet having a size between that of the Earth and Mars and a mass only half that of Venus. [2] It orbits L 98-59, a red dwarf star 34.6 light-years away in the constellation Volans. There are at least 4 (possibly 5) other planets in the system: L 98-59 c, d, e, f and the unconfirmed ".06". [2] [4] Its discovery was announced on 27 June 2019 in The Astronomical Journal [1] and in a NASA press release. It was the smallest planet discovered by TESS [5] until the discovery of LHS 1678 b, [6] and was the lowest-mass planet whose mass had been measured using radial velocities [2] until Proxima Centauri d was found in 2022. [7]

    Characteristics

    L 98-59 b orbits its star in 2.25 days and stays so close to the star that it receives 22 times more energy than Earth receives from the Sun. There are 4 confirmed planets in the system but they are not in the habitable zone of the host star. [5] The temperature of the planet detected by TESS is 330 °C. [8] In 2022, transmission spectroscopy indicated that the planet has either no atmosphere or an opaque atmosphere with high-altitude hazes. [9]

    Transmission spectroscopy observations with the James Webb Space Telescope NIRSpec published in 2025 favor the presence of a sulfur dioxide atmosphere. This is likely driven by volcanism, implying that L 98-59 b experiences at least eight times as much volcanism and tidal heating as Io. [10]

    References

    1. 1 2 Kostov, Veselin B.; Schlieder, Joshua E.; et al. (July 2019). "The L 98-59 System: Three Transiting, Terrestrial-size Planets Orbiting a Nearby M Dwarf". The Astronomical Journal . 158 (1): 32. arXiv: 1903.08017 . Bibcode:2019AJ....158...32K. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab2459 .
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 Demangeon, Oliver D. S.; Zapatero Osorio, M. R.; Alibert, Y.; Barros, S. C. C.; Adibekyan, V.; Tabernero, H. M.; et al. (July 2021). "A warm terrestrial planet with half the mass of Venus transiting a nearby star" (PDF). Astronomy & Astrophysics. 653: 38. arXiv: 2108.03323 . Bibcode:2021A&A...653A..41D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202140728. S2CID   236957385.
    3. 1 2 3 Rajpaul, Vinesh M.; Barragán, Oscar; Zicher, Norbert (June 2024). "A non-zero Doppler amplitude is not enough: revisiting the putative radial velocity detection of sub-Venus exoplanet L 98-59b". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 530 (4): 4665–4675. Bibcode:2024MNRAS.530.4665R. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stae778 .
    4. ↑ Schwarz, Paul; Dreizler, Stefan; Heller, René (2025-07-08). "Confirmation of a non-transiting planet in the habitable zone of the nearby M dwarf L 98-59". arXiv: 2507.06413 [astro-ph.EP].
    5. 1 2 Garner, Rob (2019-06-24). "NASA's TESS Mission Finds Its Smallest Planet Yet". NASA. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
    6. ↑ Silverstein, Michele L.; Schlieder, Joshua E.; Barclay, Thomas; Hord, Benjamin J.; Jao, Wei-Chun; Vrijmoet, Eliot Halley; Henry, Todd J.; Cloutier, Ryan; Kostov, Veselin B.; Kruse, Ethan; Winters, Jennifer G.; Irwin, Jonathan M.; Kane, Stephen R.; Stassun, Keivan G.; Huang, Chelsea (2022-04-01). "The LHS 1678 System: Two Earth-Sized Transiting Planets and an Astrometric Companion Orbiting an M Dwarf Near the Convective Boundary at 20 pc". The Astronomical Journal. 163 (4): 151. arXiv: 2110.12079 . Bibcode:2022AJ....163..151S. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac32e3 . ISSN   0004-6256. S2CID   239768873.
    7. ↑ Faria, J. P.; Suárez Mascareño, A.; et al. (January 4, 2022). "A candidate short-period sub-Earth orbiting Proxima Centauri" (PDF). Astronomy & Astrophysics. 658. European Southern Observatory: 17. arXiv: 2202.05188 . Bibcode:2022A&A...658A.115F. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202142337 .
    8. ↑ "Canicule ? Il fait 330 degrés sur la petite exoplanète découverte par le télescope spatial TESS". Numerama (in French). 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
    9. ↑ Damiano, Mario; Hu, Renyu; Barclay, Thomas; Zieba, Sebastian; Kreidberg, Laura; Brande, Jonathan; Colon, Knicole D.; Covone, Giovanni; Crossfield, Ian; Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D.; Fauchez, Thomas J.; Fiscale, Stefano; Gallo, Francesco; Gilbert, Emily; Hedges, Christina L.; Kite, Edwin S.; Kopparapu, Ravi K.; Kostov, Veselin B.; Morley, Caroline; Mullally, Susan E.; Pidhorodetska, Daria; Schlieder, Joshua E.; Quintana, Elisa V. (2022), "A Transmission Spectrum of the Sub-Earth Planet L98-59 b in 1.1–1.7 μm", The Astronomical Journal, 164 (5): 225, arXiv: 2210.10008 , Bibcode:2022AJ....164..225D, doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac9472 , S2CID   252968265
    10. ↑ Bello-Arufe, Aaron; Damiano, Mario; et al. (January 2025). "Evidence for a volcanic atmosphere on the sub-Earth L98-59b". The Astrophysical Journal Letters . arXiv: 2501.18680 .
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.