Gliese 414 Ab, also known as GJ 414 Ab, is a sub-Neptuneexoplanet orbiting Gliese 414 A, an orange dwarf located 39 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Ursa Major.[4][note 1] It is at least 7.6 times more massive than the Earth and is 3 times larger, having a diameter of 37600 km.[5] It orbits its host star at a distance of 0.24 astronomical units (36,000,000 km), completing one revolution every 51 days.[5] The distance of Gliese 414 A b from its star makes it to be located in the inner part of the optmistic habitable zone, and the planet has a equilibrium temperature of 35.5 °C.[5]
Characteristics
Gliese 414 Ab is classified as a sub-Neptune planet. With a diameter of 37600 km, it is about 3 times larger than Earth, but 24% smaller than Neptune.[5] Having a minimum mass of 7.6 M🜨, it is likely that it is not a rocky planet, but instead has an volatile-rich envelope.[5] NASA Eyes on Exoplanets cites it as a Neptune-like planet.[2]
Gliese 414 Ab completes one orbit around its star every 51 days, being located at a distance of 0.24 astronomical units (36,000,000 km).[2] Its orbit is highly eccentric (e = 0.45), which means that the distance from its star varies from 0.13 to 0.34 astronomical units (19,400,000 km to 50,860,000 km).[5] The orbital variation of Gliese 414 Ab causes to occasionally be located within its star's habitable zone, which has an inner limit of 0.21 AU according to a more optimistic model.[5][7] According to another model, the star's habitable zone is located from 0.37 to 0.7 AU.[5]
As it orbits close to the habitable zone, it is a warm planet, having a surface temperature estimated at around 36 °C.[5][a] The margin of error of 33.5 implies that the temperature can be as high as 69.1°C, and as low as 2°C.[5]
Its parent star, known as Gliese 414 A, is an orange dwarf about 70% the size of the Sun.[9] In addition to Gliese 414 Ab, the star also hosts Gliese 414 Ac, a Super-Neptune orbiting at a distance 6 times greater, of 1.4 AU.[9]
It also has a red dwarf companion, located at a distance of 408 AU from the main star.[3]