| WASP-79b / Pollera | |
| Discoverer: | Smalley et al. |
| Discovered: | June 1 2012 |
| Discovery Method: | Transit method |
| Apsis: | astron |
| Semimajor: | AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0 |
| Period: | d |
| Inclination: | ° |
| Star: | WASP-79 |
| Mass: | [1] |
WASP-79b, also known as Pollera, is an extrasolar planet orbiting the star WASP-79 (Montuno). This planet is in the constellation Eridanus, and is about 810 light-years from Earth.
The name, Pollera, was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign by Panama, during the 100th anniversary of the IAU. A pollera is the traditional costume the woman wears in the El Punto, a Panamanian dance.[2] [3]
WASP-79, or CD-30 1812, is a F-type dwarf star located at 240 parsecs (810 light years) away from Earth. With and, it is both larger and more massive than the Sun. Its effective temperature is 6,600 K, making it hotter than the Sun.[1]
The star WASP-79 is named Montuno. Montuno is the traditional costume the man wears in the “El Punto”, a Panamanian dance.
WASP-79b is a very large hot jupiter that is among the largest exoplanets discovered although its size is uncertain. It is most likely to be larger at (approximately 300,000 kilometers across) with a temperature of 1,900 ± 50 K. However, it could be as small as (approximately 240,000 kilometers across), which is comparable to the size of another hot jupiter WASP-78b, with a temperature at 1,770 ± 50 K. Despite being larger than Jupiter, it is slightly less massive.[1]
The planet is orbiting the host star at nearly-polar orbit with respect to star's equatorial plane, inclination being equal to −95.2°.
In 2019 and 2020, the transmission spectra of WASP-79b were taken utilizing HST and Spitzer Space Telescope, with best fit being the hazy atmosphere containing about 1% water and traces of Iron(I) hydride.[4] [5] The presence of iron hydride was confirmed in 2021, along with tentative detection of vanadium oxide. Also, in 2022 an atmospheric sodium has been detected.