The HARPS survey for southern extra-solar planets II. A 14 Earth-masses exoplanet around mu Arae

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  • 25 August 2004
Abstract
In this letter we present the discovery of a very light planetary companion to the star mu Ara (HD160691). The planet orbits its host once every 9.5 days, and induces a sinusoidal radial velocity signal with a semi-amplitude of about 4m/s. These values imply a mass of m_2 sini = 14 Earth-masses. This detection represents the first discovery of a planet with a mass slightly smaller than that of Uranus, the smallest "ice giant" in our Solar System. Whether this planet can be considered an ice giant or a super-earth planet is discussed in the context of the core-accretion and migration models.

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