A joint team of National Astronomical Observatories, CAS (NAOC) and Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, Japan, recently discovered an extrasolar planet by using 2.16m astronomical telescope and 1.88m astronomic telescope respectively. The discovery was published by Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, January 2009.
The planet is a companion to the giant star DH 173416. Scientists from Xinglong station, NAOC and Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, Japan had been observing star DH 173416 since 2004. By adopting the radial velocity method they detected the planet and further confirmed it was a new one. The planetary companion has a minimum mass of 2.7 MJ, an eccentricity of 0.21, a semimajor axis of 1.16 AU and an orbital period of 324 days. It is the first exoplanet ever discovered by the Chinese astronomers using 2.16m astronomical telescope.
The Chinese team is lead by Prof. Gan Zhao of NAOC. The first author is Dr. Yujuan Liu. The scientists expect more similar findings in the future.
