astronomy

WASP-71

WASP-71 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 WASP-71 rather than just read about it. In short: WASP-71, also named Mpingo, is an ordinary star with a close-orbiting planetary companion in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. With an apparent visual magnitude of 10.56, it is too faint to be visible to the naked eye.

Key takeaways

WASP-71 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect WASP-71 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of WASP-71 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

WASP-71, also named Mpingo, is an ordinary star with a close-orbiting planetary companion in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. With an apparent visual magnitude of 10.56, it is too faint to be visible to the naked eye. This star is located at a distance of 1,160 light-years based on parallax measurements, and is drifting further away with a heliocentric radial velocity of 7.7 km/s. This is classified as an F-type star with a stellar classification of F8. It is more than double the diameter of the Sun with 1.5 times the Sun's mass. The star is younger than the Sun at about 3.6 billion years, yet is already evolving away from the main sequence. BD+00 316 is enriched in heavy elements, having 140% of the solar abundance of iron. Imaging surveys in 2015 and 2020 failed to find any stellar companions for BD+00 316.

Nomenclature The designation WASP-71 comes from the Wide Angle Search for Planets and has been used since 2012; BD+00 316 is the stellar identifier from the Bonner Durchmusterung catalogue. The star was named Mpingo by Tanzanian amateur astronomers in 2020 as part of the NameExoWorlds contest, after the mpingo tree (Dalbergia melanoxylon) whose wood is a type of ebony used in musical instruments.

Planetary system In 2012 a transiting superjovian planet, designated WASP-71b, was detected on a tight, circular orbit. The planetary orbit is well aligned with the equatorial plane of the star, the misalignment angle being equal to −1.9+7.1−7.5°. Its equilibrium temperature is 2,016.1+67.0−52.5 K. The planet was named Tanzanite by Tanzanian amateur astronomers in 2020 as part of the NameExoWorlds contest, after the mineral also known as tanzanite.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with WASP-71

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what WASP-71 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 WASP-71 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 WASP-71 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 WASP-71

In research: WASP-71 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 WASP-71 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: WASP-71 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cetus (constellation), Durchmusterung objects, F-type main-sequence stars, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for WASP-71 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 WASP-71 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what WASP-71 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 WASP-71 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is WASP-71 in simple terms?

Why does WASP-71 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 WASP-71?

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 WASP-71.