astronomy

HD 153950 b

HD 153950 b 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 HD 153950 b rather than just read about it. In short: HD 153950 b, also known as Trimobe, is an extrasolar planet located approximately 162 light-years away. This planet was discovered on October 26, 2008 by Moutou et al. using the HARPS spectrograph on ESO's 3.6 meter telescope installed at La Silla Observatory in Atacama Desert, Chile.

Key takeaways

HD 153950 b belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect HD 153950 b to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of HD 153950 b from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

HD 153950 b, also known as Trimobe, is an extrasolar planet located approximately 162 light-years away. This planet was discovered on October 26, 2008 by Moutou et al. using the HARPS spectrograph on ESO's 3.6 meter telescope installed at La Silla Observatory in Atacama Desert, Chile. The planet HD 153950 b is named Trimobe. The name was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign by Madagascar, during the 100th anniversary of the IAU. Trimobe is a rich ogre from Malagasy tales.

Characteristics

Mass and orbit HD 153950 b is a Jupiter-size exoplanet. The estimated minimum mass is 2.73 times the mass of Jupiter. The planet has been found to orbit its host star every 500 days at a distance of 1.28 AU, which is approximately 28% more of the mean distance between the Sun and the Earth. HD 153950 b has a mildly elliptical orbit, given its orbital eccentricity of 0.34.

Temperature The temperature of the exoplanet is likely to vary during its orbit, temperatures would likely range from 275–375 K (2–102 °C; 35–215 °F) as it approaches its periastron/apastron of its orbit. This would also likely apply to a potentially habitable hypothetical moon orbiting the gas giant exoplanet (see below).

Host star

HD 153950 is an F-type star with a mass that is 1.13 times the mass of the Sun and a size that is 1.34 times the radius of the Sun. In other words, it is slightly more massive and slightly larger than the Sun is. With an effective temperature of 6076 K, HD 205739 is also hotter than the Sun, although it is younger, at an estimated age of 4.3 billion years, 250–300 million years younger than the Sun. The star is almost the same as the Sun in terms of metal; its measured metallicity is [Fe/H] = -0.01. HD 153950 cannot be seen from Earth with the naked eye because the star has an apparent magnitude (V) of 7.39.

Habitability HD 153950 b is located within the habitable zone of its star. The exoplanet, with a mass of 2.73 MJ, is too massive to be rocky, and because of this the planet itself is not expected to habitable. However, based on a probable 10−4 fraction of the planet mass as a satellite, it may have a large enough moon with a sufficient atmosphere and pressure, and liquid water at its surface, potentially making it habitable. On the other hand, this mass can be distributed into many small satellites as well.

Discovery HD 153950's designation is from the Henry Draper catalogue. The star was also observed by Hipparcos, which released its catalogue in 1997. The observations that led to the discovery of the planet HD 153950 b started when the N2K Consortium started an extended search for planets around 300 stars not usually targeted by Doppler spectroscopy surveys. In the case of HD 153950, the star was observed using telescopes at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.

See also BD-17°63 b HD 131664 HD 143361 b HD 145377 b HD 20868 b HD 43848 HD 48265 b HD 73267 b

References

External links "HD 153950 b". Exoplanets. Archived from the original on 2012-03-04. Retrieved 2008-11-06.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with HD 153950 b

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what HD 153950 b 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 HD 153950 b 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 HD 153950 b 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 HD 153950 b

In research: HD 153950 b 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 HD 153950 b 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: HD 153950 b is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Exoplanets detected by radial velocity, Exoplanets discovered in 2008, Exoplanets with proper names, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for HD 153950 b 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “HD 153950 b” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study HD 153950 b in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what HD 153950 b 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 HD 153950 b out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is HD 153950 b in simple terms?

Why does HD 153950 b 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 HD 153950 b?

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 HD 153950 b.