HATS-72 b: A Jupiter-Like World Orbiting a Cool, Older Star

HATS-72 is a star located 416 light-years away, and it hosts one known planet. The star is cooler than the Sun, with a temperature of 4660 K, and its mass and radius estimates are both smaller than the Sun's, at 0.731 solar masses and 0.721 solar radii. It is also older than the Sun, with an age of 12.2 billion years.

The planet HATS-72 b is a Jupiter-like world, a size class that exceeds four times Earth's radius. It completes an orbit every 7.33 days, and its reported radius estimate is 8.1 Earth radii, larger than Earth's. Its mass estimate is 39.9 Earth masses, also larger than Earth's. The planet's mean density is 0.414 g/cm³, 0.0751 times Earth's. It was discovered by the transit method in 2020, when it passed in front of its star from our viewpoint and caused a small dip in observed brightness.