WASP-8b
WASP-8b
Planet orbiting a star in a binary system in the constellation of Sculptor
WASP-8b is an exoplanet orbiting the star WASP-8A in the constellation of Sculptor. The star is similar to the Sun and forms a binary star with a red dwarf star (WASP-8B) of half the Sun's mass that orbits WASP-8A 4.5 arcseconds away. The system is 294 light-years (90 parsecs) away and is therefore located closer to Earth than many other star systems that are known to feature planets similar to WASP-8b. The planet and its parent star were discovered in the SuperWASP batch -6b to -15b. On 1 April 2008, Dr. Don Pollacco of Queen's University Belfast announced them at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2008).[5]