Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission XVII. The hot Jupiter CoRoT-17b: a very old planet

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and characterization of CoRoT-17b, a hot Jupiter orbiting an old star, providing insights into planetary evolution over billions of years.

Contribution

It presents the detection and detailed analysis of a very old hot Jupiter, expanding understanding of planetary longevity and composition.

Findings

CoRoT-17b has a mass of 2.43 Jupiter masses and a radius of 1.02 Jupiter radii.

The host star is approximately 10.7 billion years old.

The planet's internal composition could range from pure hydrogen/helium to heavy-element-rich.

Abstract

We report on the discovery of a hot Jupiter-type exoplanet, CoRoT-17b, detected by the CoRoT satellite. It has a mass of $2.43\pm0.30$\Mjup and a radius of $1.02\pm0.07$\Rjup, while its mean density is $2.82\pm0.38$ g/cm$^3$. CoRoT-17b is in a circular orbit with a period of $3.7681\pm0.0003$ days. The host star is an old ($10.7\pm1.0$ Gyr) main-sequence star, which makes it an intriguing object for planetary evolution studies. The planet's internal composition is not well constrained and can range from pure H/He to one that can contain $\sim$380 earth masses of heavier elements.