HD 95872 b: A Massive Planet Orbiting a Cool Star

HD 95872 is a K0 V star located 236 light-years away. Its spectral type identifies it as a main-sequence star, and its reported temperature of 5310 K is cooler than the Sun's. The star's reported mass estimate of 0.95 solar masses is also smaller than the Sun's, while its age is given as 10 billion years. One planet has been found orbiting this star.

That planet is HD 95872 b, discovered in 2015 by 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's orbital period is 4380 days. Its minimum mass is 1190 Earth masses, a lower bound on its true mass, and this minimum mass is larger than Earth's and roughly 3.74 times Jupiter's mass.