HATS-36b

Lore & Background

HATS-36b was discovered on June 12, 2017 and announced in 2018 by a team of 23 astronomers. It orbits its host star HATS-36, a G0V star with an apparent magnitude of 14.4 and absolute magnitude of 4.4, every 4.17524 days at an orbital distance of 0.05 AU. The planetary system is classified as an eclipsing binary system based on combined HATSouth data, K2 data, and follow-up ground-based photometry and spectroscopy.

The exoplanet has a mass of 3.216 Jupiters and a radius of 1.263 ± 0.045 Jupiter radii, with a density of 2.12 ± 0.20 g/cm³. Its host star is active, showing variability in the light curve and high jitters in radial velocity measurements. After its discovery, HATS-36b became one of 25 HATSouth candidates on Campaign 7 of the K2 mission.

Due to its high mass compared with the known population of hot Jupiters, HATS-36b lies in a relatively sparsely populated region of the mass-density relationship for gas giant exoplanets. However, its bulk density fits well on the mass-density sequence of related exoplanets.

Reader's Guide

HATS-36b occupies a notable position in the study of exoplanet demographics. Its high mass of 3.216 Jupiters places it in a sparsely populated region of the mass-density relationship for gas giant exoplanets, making it a valuable data point for understanding the formation and evolution of massive hot Jupiters. The planet's density of 2.12 g/cm³, while fitting the broader mass-density sequence, highlights the diversity among close-in gas giants. The active nature of its host star, evidenced by light curve variability and radial velocity jitters, provides context for studying star-planet interactions and the challenges of characterizing planets around active stars. As one of the 25 HATSouth candidates observed during K2's Campaign 7, HATS-36b contributes to the legacy of the K2 mission in expanding the census of transiting exoplanets. Its discovery by a large international team underscores the collaborative effort required to detect and confirm such objects, and its classification as part of an eclipsing binary system adds to the understanding of planetary systems in binary configurations.

Did You Know?

• HATS-36b has a mass of 3.216 Jupiters, making it a massive hot Jupiter.
• It orbits its star every 4.1752379 ± 0.0000021 days at a distance of 0.05425 AU.
• The host star HATS-36 is a G0V star with a surface temperature of 5970 K.
• The planet was discovered by a team of 23 astronomers on June 12, 2017.