WASP-3
Star in the constellation Lyra
WASP-3 is a triple star system located about 753 light-years (231 parsecs) away from the Sun in the constellation Lyra. The system has an apparent magnitude of 10. The brightest and most massive star of this system is WASP-3A, an F-type main sequence star which has one known transiting hot Jupiter exoplanet, WASP-3b. Since the planet transits the star, the star is classified as a planetary transit variable and has received the variable star designation V838 Lyrae.
01Triple system
WASP-3 has been identified as a triple star system in a 2019 study of astrometry from the Gaia mission. The brightest and most massive component of the system is WASP-3A, an F-type main sequence star that is 1.24 times as massive as the Sun and 1.31 times as large as the Sun in radius. WASP-3A appears to be a variable star; observations between 2007 and 2010 show that the star's chromospheric activity had increased during that time period. The second companion, WASP-3B, is a low-mass star about 0.11 times as massive as the Sun and has an effective temperature of about 2900 K. WASP-3B is separated eastward from WASP-3A at an angular separation of approximately 1.19 arcseconds, corresponding to a projected separation distance of about 300 AU. WASP-3B was first identified in observations from 2012 to 2013. The third companion, WASP-3C, is much more distant with an angular separation of approximately 18.3 arcseconds from WASP-3A, corresponding to a projected separation distance of 4230 AU. WASP-3C is about 0.77 times as massive as the Sun and has an effective temperature of about 4700 K.
02Planetary system
WASP-3A has one known transiting hot Jupiter extrasolar planet, WASP-3b, which was detected by the SuperWASP project in 2007. It was confirmed in 2008 by observations from the William Herschel Telescope.
In 2010, researchers proposed a second planet orbiting WASP-3A due to transit timing variations in WASP-3b. But in 2012 this proposal was refuted.
| Companion (in order from star) |
Mass | Semimajor axis (AU) |
Orbital period (days) |
Eccentricity | Inclination (°) |
Radius |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | 1.89±0.12 MJ | 0.03182+0.00080 −0.00085 |
1.8468351(4) | <0.0058 | 83.72±0.39 | 1.416±0.047 RJ |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “WASP-3”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- WASP-3LightCurve.png by PopePompus, CC BY-SA 4.0
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