Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 11, 2026

WASP-3b

WASP-3b is an extrasolar planet orbiting the star WASP-3 located approximately 800 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. It was discovered via the transit method by SuperWASP, and follow up radial velocity observations confirmed that WASP-3b is a planet. The planet's mass and radius indicate that it is a gas giant with a similar bulk composition to Jupiter. WASP-3b has such an orbital distance around its star to classify it in the class of planets known as hot Jupiters and has an atmospheric temperature of approximately 1983 K.

Last revised
Jul 11, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
310 w
Citations
4
Source
WASP-3b
Size comparison of WASP-3b with Jupiter.
Discovery
Discovered byPollacco et al. (SuperWASP)
Discovery siteORM
Discovery dateOctober 31, 2007
Transit
Orbital characteristics
0.0317+0.0006
−0.001
AU
Eccentricity0
1.8468372 ± 6e-07 d
Inclination85.06+0.15
−0.16
StarWASP-3
Physical characteristics
1.454 ± 0.084 RJ
Mass2.06 ± 0.13 MJ
Mean density
1.04 g/cm3
23.44 m/s2; 2.390 g01
Temperature1,983 K (1,710 °C)

WASP-3b is an extrasolar planet orbiting the star WASP-3 located approximately 800 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. It was discovered via the transit method by SuperWASP, and follow up radial velocity observations confirmed that WASP-3b is a planet. The planet's mass and radius indicate that it is a gas giant with a similar bulk composition to Jupiter. WASP-3b has such an orbital distance around its star to classify it in the class of planets known as hot Jupiters and has an atmospheric temperature of approximately 1983 K.1

WASP-3b undergoes no detectable gravitational tugging from other bodies in this system.2

The study in 2012, utilizing a Rossiter–McLaughlin effect, have determined the planetary orbit is probably aligned with the equatorial plane of the star, misalignment equal to 3.3+2.5
−4.4
°.3

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Pollacco, D.; et al. (2008). "WASP-3b: a strongly irradiated transiting gas-giant planet". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 385 (3): 1576–1584. arXiv:0711.0126. Bibcode:2008MNRAS.385.1576P. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.12939.x. S2CID 2317308.
  2. M Montalto; et al. (Nov 2, 2012). "A new analysis of the WASP-3 system: no evidence for an additional companion". MNRAS. 427 (4): 2757. arXiv:1211.0218. Bibcode:2012MNRAS.427.2757M. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21926.x. S2CID 59381004.
  3. Albrecht, Simon; Winn, Joshua N.; Johnson, John A.; Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Butler, R. Paul; Arriagada, Pamela; Crane, Jeffrey D.; Shectman, Stephen A.; Thompson, Ian B.; Hirano, Teruyuki; Bakos, Gaspar; Hartman, Joel D. (2012), "Obliquities of Hot Jupiter Host Stars: Evidence for Tidal Interactions and Primordial Misalignments", The Astrophysical Journal, 757 (1): 18, arXiv:1206.6105, Bibcode:2012ApJ...757...18A, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/757/1/18, S2CID 17174530
External links

Media related to WASP-3b at Wikimedia Commons