Luyten b

Luyten b (more commonly known as Gliese 273b) is a

confirmed exoplanet, likely rocky, orbiting within the
Luyten b
habitable zone of the nearby red dwarf Luyten's Star. It is the Discovery[1]
fourth-closest potentially habitable exoplanet known, at a Discovered by Astudillo-Defru et al.,
distance of 12 light-years. Only Proxima Centauri b, Ross
HARPS
128 b, and GJ 1061 d are closer. Discovered alongside
Gliese 273c in June 2017, Luyten b is a super-Earth of Discovery date 17 March 2017
around 2.89 times the mass of Earth and receives only 6% Detection Radial velocity
more starlight than Earth, making it one of the best method
candidates for habitability.[1] Orbital characteristics[1]
Semi-major +0.000 019
0.091 101 −0.000 017 AU
Characteristics axis
Eccentricity +0.09
0.10 −0.07
Mass, radius, and temperature Orbital period +0.0059
18.6498 −0.0052 d
(sidereal)
Semi-amplitude 1.61 ± 0.15 m/s
Mass and size
Star Luyten's Star
Luyten b is a super-Earth, meaning that it has a mass and/or Physical characteristics
radius greater than that of Earth, but less than that of Uranus +0.27
Mass ≥2.89 −0.26 M🜨
or Neptune. Radial velocity measurements shows that the
planet has a minimum mass of 2.89 M🜨, placing it at the Temperature 259 K (−14 °C; 7 °F)[2]
lower end of the super-Earth range.[1] The planet has not
been found to transit its star, and as a result its true mass and
radius are not known. Due to its low mass, the planet is likely terrestrial, with a predicted radius of
1.51 R🜨.[3]

Up to four candidate planets have been proposed around Luyten's Star. A 2020 study showed that if all four
planets are present, their true masses must be close to their minimum masses for the system to be stable,
with an upper limit of 3.03 M🜨 for Luyten b.[4]

Temperature and atmosphere

The planet receives an incident flux only 6% greater than that of Earth.[1] With an estimated albedo, or
proportion of light reflected by the planet, of 0.30, Luyten b has an equilibrium temperature of 259 K.[2]
For comparison, Earth has an equilibrium temperature of 255 K. With an Earth-like atmosphere — if it has
one — Luyten b would have an average surface temperature of about 292 K (19 °C; 66 °F), very similar to
that of Earth.

Orbit and rotation

Luyten b orbits quite close to its host star. One full revolution around Luyten's Star takes about 18.6 days at
an average distance of 0.091 AU, much closer in than Mercury, which has a year of 88 days and an orbital
radius of 0.387 AU. However, because the host star is so dim, Luyten b falls right within the system's
habitable zone and only receives 6% more starlight than Earth. Luyten b has a moderate orbital eccentricity
of 0.10 ± 0.08.[1]

Host star

Luyten's Star is a medium-sized red dwarf star on the main sequence. It has 29.3% the radius, 29% the
mass, 0.88% the luminosity of the Sun, and has an effective temperature of 3,382 K. Unlike many nearby
red dwarfs, like Proxima Centauri, Luyten's Star is very inactive with a long rotation period of over
118 days.[1]

Active SETI
In October 2017 and 2018, the nonprofit organization METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) sent a
message, "Sónar Calling GJ273b", containing dozens of short musical compositions and a scientific
"tutorial" towards the planet in hopes of contacting any potential extraterrestrial civilizations.[5]

See also
LHS 1140 b, a massive habitable zone Super-Earth around another quiet star
List of potentially habitable exoplanets
Proxima Centauri b, the closest potentially habitable exoplanet to Earth
Ross 128 b, the second-closest habitable zone planet and very similar to Proxima b

References
1. Astudillo-Defru, Nicola; Forveille, Thierry; Bonfils, Xavier; Ségransan, Damien; Bouchy,
François; Delfosse, Xavier; et al. (2017). "The HARPS search for southern extra-solar
planets. XLI. A dozen planets around the M dwarfs GJ 3138, GJ 3323, GJ 273, GJ 628, and
GJ 3293" (https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2017/06/aa30153-16/aa30153-16.htm
l). Astronomy and Astrophysics. 602. A88. arXiv:1703.05386 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.0538
6). Bibcode:2017A&A...602A..88A (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017A&A...602A..88
A). doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201630153 (https://doi.org/10.1051%2F0004-6361%2F2016301
53). S2CID 119418595 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:119418595).
2. "PHL's calculators" (https://web.archive.org/web/20211018083037/http://phl.upr.edu/project
s/habitable-exoplanets-catalog/calculators). Archived from the original (https://phl.upr.edu/pr
ojects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog/calculators) on 2021-10-18. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
3. "NASA exoplanet catalog GJ 273 b" (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/7211/gj-
273-b/).
4. Pozuelos, Francisco J.; Suárez, Juan C.; de Elía, Gonzalo C.; Berdiñas, Zaira M.; Bonfanti,
Andrea; Dugaro, Agustín; et al. (2020). "GJ 273: On the formation, dynamical evolution, and
habitability of a planetary system hosted by an M dwarf at 3.75 parsec". Astronomy &
Astrophysics. 641: A23. arXiv:2006.09403 (https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.09403).
Bibcode:2020A&A...641A..23P (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020A&A...641A..23P).
doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202038047 (https://doi.org/10.1051%2F0004-6361%2F202038047).
S2CID 219721292 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:219721292).
 5. "Sonar Calling" (https://sonarcalling.com/). Website. Advanced Music SL. Retrieved 6 May
2019.

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