Artist's impression of star HD 93396 and its planet
Date: 16 April 2020
Satellite: CHEOPS
Copyright: ESA
Artist's impression of the star HD 93396 and its hot Jupiter planet, KELT-11b.
HD 93396 is a subgiant yellow star located 320 light-years away, slightly cooler and three times larger than our Sun. It hosts a puffy gaseous planet, KELT-11b, about 30% larger in size than Jupiter, in an orbit that is much closer to the star than Mercury is to the Sun.
During its in-orbit commissioning, ESA's Cheops mission observed a transit of KELT-11b in front of its host star. The light curve of this star shows a clear dip caused by the eight hour-long transit of KELT-11b, which enabled scientists to determine very precisely the diameter of the planet: 181 600 km – with an uncertainty just under 4300 km.
Last Update: 16 April 2020
