The Beehive Cluster (also M44, Praesepe, the Manger) is an open cluster (a group of stars in close proximity presumed to share a common origin) 577 light years from Earth in the constellation Cancer. It is 22.8 light years across, contains over a thousand stars and is believed to be roughly 600 million years old.
M44, the Beehive Cluster. Greg Parker/The New Forrest Observatory.
In a paper published on the online arXiv database at Cornell University Library on 3 July 2012, a team of scientists led by Samuel Quinn of the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Georgia State University, describe the discovery of two Hot Jupiter type planets within the Beehive Cluster, using the 1.5-m Tillinghast Reflector at the Fred L. Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona.
The first of the new planets is named Praesepe 0201b. This orbits the star Praesepe 0201, an F class Dwarf Star 1.234 times the Sun's mass and an effective surface temperature of 6174 K (our Sun has an effective surface temperature of 5778 K). The planet has a mass 0.54 times that of Jupiter, and completes one orbit every 3.43 days.
The second planet is Praesepe 0211b, which orbits the star Praesepe 0211, a G-type dwarf star (the same class of star as out Sun) with 0.952 of the Sun's mass, and an effective surface temperature of 5326 K. The planet has a mass 1.844 times that of Jupiter, and completes one orbit every 2.15 days.
See also Two new views of τ Boötis b, Planets discovered orbiting the ancient, second generation star HIP 11952, The atmosphere of WASP-24b, Cooking the planets if CoRoT-7 and Exoplanets on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.
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