BD+63 1405 b: A Distant World Orbiting a Cool Star

BD+63 1405 is a K0 star located 124 light-years away. A spectral type such as K0 classifies a star by its temperature class, placing it cooler and redder than the Sun and hotter than M-type stars. The star's reported mass estimate is 0.816 solar masses, smaller than the Sun's, and its reported temperature is 5000 K, cooler than the Sun's.

One planet orbits this host. BD+63 1405 b was discovered in 2021 using the radial velocity method, which measures the wobble a planet's gravity induces in its star's motion; repeated wobbles reveal the planet and its orbital period. The planet has a minimum mass of 1260 Earth masses, a lower bound on its true mass, and an orbital period of 1200 days. Its minimum mass is larger than Earth's and roughly 3.96 times Jupiter's mass.