Water Cloud Giants

Exoplanetary Scratchpad [SysBP Img]

Water cloud giants are giant planets that are warm enough for white water clouds to dominate their atmospheres. Here is a list of Water Cloud Jupiters that appear at Extrasolar Visions. Also, see EV Sulfurous Cloud Giants. This list may be updated to incorporate new science and discoveries. For a list of those exactly seen on Extrasolar Visions, see EV Water Cloud Giants.

Water Cloud Jovians

• HD 188015 System - A white Water Cloud Jovian around an yellow sub-giant star at near Earth-like temperatures.
• Gliese 876 System - Ross 780 is also known as Gl 876 and the flare star IL Aquarii. Very nearby quadruple planet system and the first Red Dwarf found to have planets. The innermost planet (d, Hot Superterran, rocky-water) was the first found rocky planet around a normal star (the first true Super-Earth, at epistellar distances). The outer three planets c (Warm Saturnian), b (Warm Jovian), and e (Cold Neptunian) are in 1:2:4 (30d/60d/120d) resonance (the exoplanet resonance and first triple-resonant planets discovered). The outermost planet has a Mercury-like orbit. Planet b is second discovered by ELODIE after 51 Peg b and the second to have its mass exactly measured and the first to have done so by astrometry.
• HD 12661 System - System with two Jovians that could support water clouds discovered in 2000 and 2002. The innermost one may be an "Eccentric Sulfurous Cloud Giant".
• 109 Piscium System - A white Water Cloud Jovian around an yellow sub-giant star at near Earth-like temperatures.
• HD 114783 System - A white Water Cloud Jovian around an orange dwarf star located beyond the habitability zone.
• HD 23079 System - A white Water Cloud Jovian around an yellow dwarf star at the outer edge of the habitability zone.
• HD 4208 System - A white Water Cloud Jovian around an yellow dwarf star located beyond the habitability zone.
• HD 28185 System - Contains the first exoplanet discovered in a circular orbit within its star's habitability zone. A white Water Cloud Jovian around an yellow dwarf star at near Earth-like temperatures.
• HD 37124 System - The fourth triple planet system discovered around a normal star, the last one announced with 4 other multiplanet components in 2005. A Sunlike star with Jovian planets that received Venus-like, Mars-like, and Asteroid Belt-like radition from their stars. Simulations showed that no terrestrial planets could form between the Venus-like and Mars-like Jovian planets.
• HD 111232 System - A white Water Cloud Jovian around an yellow dwarf star located beyond the habitability zone.
• HD 72659 System - A white Water Cloud Jovian around an yellow dwarf star located beyond the habitability zone.
• Q1 Eridani System - A white Water Cloud Jovian around an yellow dwarf star straddling the outer edge of its habitability zone.
• HD 108874 System - System with two Jovians that could have bands of white water clouds. The inner planet is in a circular orbit and enjoy's Earth-like heat. Its second planet, which was announced with four other new multiplanet systems in 2005, is in an eccentric orbit that would span our solar system's inner asteroid belt.

Eccentric Water Cloud Jovians

• HD 210277 System - Template:HD 210277 System
• HD 183263 System - Template:HD 183263 System
• HD 4203 System - Template:HD 4203 System
• HD 114729 System - Multiple star system with a planet.
• HD 142022 System - Multiple star system with a planet.
• HD 11964 System - Sunlike star with two eccentric gas giants detected in 2005. The outermost one was retracted but then re-confirmed as one of the 28 planets announced at the May 2007 AAS media briefing. The inner most has half the mass of Saturn and is too hot for clouds. The outer one is cool and likely dominated by white water clouds. A middle planet may also exist.
• HD 108874 System - System with two Jovians that could have bands of white water clouds. The inner planet is in a circular orbit and enjoy's Earth-like heat. Its second planet, which was announced with four other new multiplanet systems in 2005, is in an eccentric orbit that would span our solar system's inner asteroid belt.
• Pi Mensae System - Very eccentric jovian around a yellow giant star.
• 16 Cygni System - A hierarchical triple star system. Has one of the first highly eccentric Jovians discovered around the "outer" star B. Recent calculations show that a short period planet could exist around the same star, but none up to as large as Neptune could exist elsewhere. Kepler has performed astroseismology on stars A and B.
• Mu Arae System - Cervantes (Mu Arae) is a 6th magnitude Sunlike star close to becoming a Sub-Giant located 50 ly with four known planets. At first believed to be a system dominated by orbit crossing eccentric Super Jupiters. Instead, three Jovians orbit in roughly circular orbits at Earth-like (Rocinante, d), Mars-like (Quixote, b, in habitable zone), and Jupiter-like (Sancho, e) distances in addition to an inner (Dulcinea, c) Hot Neptune. Planet c was one of three Hot Neptunes or Hot Super Earths discovered around the same time. It was the first one announced, but it was still under scientific review at the time, so there remains controversy on what the actual first planet discovered of this class is. Initially thought to likely to be rocky because it had 2 known neighboring gas giants which may have stunted its growth. The characteristics of the planets in this system changed greatly as new planets were discovered, and included a re-ordering of their designations. Initially, the first planet b was thought to be highly eccentric. An outer planet was then detected, at the time dubbed "c" (though a full period hadn't yet been observed), and was thought to have an extremely high eccentricity so that the orbits of the two planets would cross. An innermost third planet then dubbed "d" was then detected. A new fit for the data then emerged, and it was found that the outermost planet was actually much less eccentric, and that there was a planet interior to planet b with almost half its period. The eccentricity of b was also reduced so that no planet criss-crossed another's anymore. It was decided to redesignate the planets in order of characterizations instead of by discovery, so the innermost Neptunian planet was re-dubbed "c" and the planets just interior and exterior to planet "b" were re-dubbed "d" and "e". The system became the second known 4-planet system. The innermost two Jovians are close enough so that they're unstable over short periods of time. If they were actually in 1:2 resonance, which almost fits the data, they would be much more stable. One of the first 20 exoplanet systems allowed to be given common names by the IAU. Star is named after the author of Il Ingenioso Hildalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha and the planets after its characters, Quijote (main character), Dulcinea (love interest), Rocinante (horse), and Sancho (squire).
• HD 128311 System - An orange dwarf star with two jovians (a Jupiter analog detected in 2005 and an eccentric giant in the outer habitable zone) possibly in 1:2 resonance and a dusk disk detected by Spitzer.
• HD 150706 System - Template:HD 150706 System
• HD 50499 System - Star system with a cold eccentric water-cloud jovian and an unconfirmed outer planet which was discussed when the Carnegie team announced 5 new multiplanet system components in 2005.
• HD 136118 System - Has a Brown Dwarf that was originally thought to be one of the first discovered exoplanets discovered in 2002 and had been for 7 years.
• HD 196050 System - Multiple star system with a planet.
• Rho Indi System - Eccentric water cloud giant around a yellow sub-giant star.
• HD 38529 System - Subgiant star with a cloudy Hot Jupiter, Brown Dwarf, and Red Dwarf companion. Simulations showed that Earth-sized planet could exist between the planet and brown dwarf, but that an asteroid belt can be expected there instead.
• HD 141937 System - Template:HD 141937 System
• HD 169830 System - Bright star with two eccentric planets known in 2003. One is likely too hot to have any clouds, while the other one is likely to sport white water cloud bands.
• HD 142415 System - Template:HD 142415 System
• HD 82943 System - Yellow dwarf with two large orbit-crossing Jovians locked in 1:2 orbital resonance that would span the inner solar system, which were disccovered by the Swiss team by 2001. The planets have nearly identical mass (1.8 MJ). Shown to have a dust disk by Spitzer.
• HD 65216 System - Jovian around a sun-like star.
• Upsilon Andromedae System - Titawin (Upsilon Andromeadae) is a nearby (44 ly) multi-star system which is the first multiplanet system found around a main sequence star or a multi-star system. The main star around which the planets orbit is a yellow-white star somewhat younger than the sun and its companion is a red dwarf in a wide orbit. It is one of the most well studied non-transiting star systems. Roaster Saffar (b, 0.05 au, 0.62 MJ, e=0.013, and the nearest true Hot Jupiter to Earth) is nicknamed the Fire and Ice Planet because it is hot on one side and cold on the other. The hottest parts of the planet are near the trailing side terminator at the equator, due to high velocity winds transporting heat to the night side. This is 80deg offset from the starward pole and a much greater offset than other observed hot Jupiters. This threw astronomers off and caused them to doubt the wind-theory, though later observations of other planets have shown that winds indeed can travel fast enough to cause this. Stability studies and observations suggest its diameter is 1.8 DJ, rather large for a planet its age. The middle planets Samh (c, 0.83 au, 1.8 MJ, initially thought to possibly be a brown dwarf star, e=0.224) and Majriti (d, 2.5 au, 10.2 MJ, e=0.26) have had their inclinations and masses determined with astrometry, the first determination of relative inclinations of exoplanets. They are very eccentric and highly inclined to each other (30 deg). Planet scattering was thought to be a source until the outermost planet was discovered. This is planet e (5.2 au, 1.05 MJ, e = 0.005), which is the most Jupiter-like exoplanet known, and is in 3:1 resonance with planet d. Planet c is in the habitable zone, though any habitable moons would see drastic temperature swings. The star appears to have no Kuiper-belt like disc, perhaps due to its companion star sweeping away this material. One of the first 20 exoplanet systems allowed to be given common names by the IAU. The star is named after an important city in Morocco that bridged the Spanish and Arab worlds. The planets are named after famous Andalusian astronomers.
• HD 41004 System - Template:HD 41004 System
• HD 92788 System - Template:HD 92788 System
• HD 190228 System - Template:HD 190228 System
• Tau1 Gruis System - Template:Tau1 Gruis System
• HD 20367 System - Template:HD 20367 System
• HD 2039 System - A planet around a yellow dwarf or yellow subgiant star almost 5 times as massive as Jupiter and in a very eccentric orbit.
• HD 45350 System - Contains a highly eccentric planet which was recently studied to determine what other planets could exist in the system.
• HD 213240 System - Multiple star system with a planet.
• HD 50554 System - One of the six extrasolar systems known to have planets to be first shown to also have a dust disk by Spitzer.
• HD 147513 System - A jovian and white dwarf around a yellow dwarf.
• HD 74156 System - Sunlike star with two planets more massive than Jupiter, one in about Mercury's position, and one at an Asteroid Belt-like position. A planet was predicted in between these two at Earth-like distances and later found, the first vindicated prediction since Neptune. This supports the "Packed Planetary Systems" theory. Some have suggested that it's one Earth year orbit period may mean its detection is due to Earth based observation errors.
• HD 202206 System - System with an eccentric brown-dwarf at Venus-like distances and an even further out eccentric Jovian found in 2004.
• HD 106252 System - Template:HD 106252 System
• HD 114386 System - Template:HD 114386 System
• HD 23596 System - Template:HD 23596 System
• HD 222582 System - Multiple star system with a planet.