astronomy

Gliese 414 Ab

Gliese 414 Ab is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gliese 414 Ab rather than just read about it. In short: Gliese 414 Ab, also known as GJ 414 Ab, is a sub-Neptune exoplanet orbiting Gliese 414 A, an orange dwarf located 39 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Ursa Major. It is at least 7.6 times more massive than the Earth and is 3 times larger, having a diameter of 37600 km.

Key takeaways

Gliese 414 Ab belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gliese 414 Ab to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gliese 414 Ab from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gliese 414 Ab, also known as GJ 414 Ab, is a sub-Neptune exoplanet orbiting Gliese 414 A, an orange dwarf located 39 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Ursa Major. It is at least 7.6 times more massive than the Earth and is 3 times larger, having a diameter of 37600 km. It orbits its host star at a distance of 0.24 astronomical units (36,000,000 km), completing one revolution every 51 days. 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 an equilibrium temperature of 35.5 °C.

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. 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. NASA Eyes on Exoplanets cites it as a Neptune-like planet. 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). 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). 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. According to another model, the star's habitable zone is located from 0.37 to 0.7 AU. As it orbits close to the habitable zone, it is a warm planet, having a surface temperature estimated at around 36 °C. 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.

Discovery Gliese 414 Ab was discovered in 2020 by analyzing radial velocity data from Keck's HIRES instrument and the Automated Planet Finder at Lick Observatory, as well as photometric data from KELT.

Host star

Its parent star, known as Gliese 414 A, is an orange dwarf about 70% the size of the Sun. 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. It also has a red dwarf companion, located at a distance of 408 AU from the main star.

Notes and references

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gliese 414 Ab

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gliese 414 Ab claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gliese 414 Ab before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gliese 414 Ab ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gliese 414 Ab

In research: Gliese 414 Ab appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gliese 414 Ab in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gliese 414 Ab is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Exoplanets detected by radial velocity, Exoplanets discovered by KELT, Exoplanets discovered in 2020, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gliese 414 Ab outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gliese 414 Ab in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gliese 414 Ab means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gliese 414 Ab out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gliese 414 Ab in simple terms?

Why does Gliese 414 Ab matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gliese 414 Ab?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gliese 414 Ab.