DP Leo b: A Circumbinary World Around a Compact Star

DP Leo is a binary star system 997 light-years from Earth, and its host star is a compact object with a radius of 0.0115 solar radii and a temperature of 13500 K. That radius is smaller than the Sun's, while the temperature is hotter. One planet orbits this system: DP Leo b.

DP Leo b is a circumbinary planet, meaning it orbits both stars of the binary system rather than one star alone. It was discovered in 2009 through eclipse timing variations, a method that tracks subtle changes in the timing of eclipses between the two stars. Its minimum mass is 1920 Earth masses, a lower bound on its true mass, and this is larger than Earth's and roughly 6.05 times Jupiter's mass. The planet completes one orbit in 10200 days.