COROT-7b

COROT-7b is an exoplanet, and is considered one of the "most interesting planets found outside our solar system yet". This is the first "Super-Earth" discovered and the 7th planet found by the COROT satellite. Formerly known as Corot-Exo-7b, this planet was discovered on February 3rd, 2009, predating any terrestrial Kepler planet. This exoplanet's surface is mostly covered with lava, sometimes cooled.
COROT-7b is 489 light-years (150 parsecs) away from Earth. It was first detected photometrically by the French-led CoRoT mission and reported in February 2009. Until the announcement of Kepler-10b in January 2011, it was the smallest exoplanet to have its diameter measured, at 1.58 times that of the Earth (which would give it a volume 3.95 times Earth's) and the first potential extrasolar terrestrial planet to be found. The exoplanet has a very short orbital period, revolving around its host star in about 20 hours.
== Discovery ==
Corot-7b was discovered by the French Corot satellite using differential photometry. The apparent brightness of its host star, Corot-7, was found to slightly dim on a regular period of about 20 hours. It was confirmed to have a 1.3 hour transit before the discovery and was announced a year later.
== Transit ==
Corot-7b transits its star once every 20.486 hours, with a transit duration of 1.3 hours. The planet blocks less than 0.25% of the light from its host star, Corot-7.
== Physical Properties ==
Corot-7b was confirmed to have a diameter around 1.53 times that of Earth, or about 12,163 miles. However, its mass is actually not confirmed but estimated known to have 7 Earth masses. The young age of the Corot-7 systems means that Corot-7b's star is highly active and interrupts the radial velocity signal that would show the planet's mass.
The original discovery paper of Corot-7b by Didlier Queloz weighed Corot-7b at about 4.8 times the mass of Earth, showing the variations of the estimated mass measured by radial velocity. The observations that gave Corot-7b this mass also showed the existence of a non-transiting planet known as Corot-7c.
Category:Exoplanets