Gliese 667
Primary of New Pavonis.
The two brightest components of this system, Gl 667 A and Gl 667 B, are orbiting each other at an average angular separation of 1.81 arcseconds with a high eccentricity of 0.58. At the estimated distance of this system, this is equivalent to a physical separation of about 12.6 AU, or nearly 13 times the separation of the Earth from the Sun. Their eccentric orbit brings the pair as close as about 5 AU to each other, or as distant as 20 AU, corresponding to an eccentricity of 0.6. This orbit takes approximately 42.15 years to complete and the orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 128° to the line of sight from the Earth. The third component, Gl 667 C, orbits the Gl 667 AB pair at an angular separation of about 30", which equates to a physical separation of about 56 to 215 AU.
The largest component of this system, Gliese 667 A (GJ 667 A), is a K-type main-sequence star of stellar classification K3 V. It has about 73% of the mass of the Sun and 76% of the Sun's radius, but is radiating only around 12 or 13% of the luminosity of the Sun. The concentration of elements other than hydrogen and helium, what astronomers term the star's metallicity, is much lower than in the Sun with a relative abundance of around 26% solar. The apparent visual magnitude of this star is 6.29, which, at the star's estimated distance, gives an absolute magnitude of around 7.07 (assuming negligible extinction from interstellar matter).
Like the primary, the secondary component Gliese 667 B (GJ 667 B) is a K-type main-sequence star, although it has a slightly later stellar classification of K5V. This component has a mass of about 69% of the Sun, or 95% of the primary's mass, and it is radiating about 5% of the Sun's visual luminosity. The secondary's apparent magnitude is 7.24, giving it an absolute magnitude of around 8.02.
Gliese 667 C is the smallest stellar component of this system, with only around 31% of the mass of the Sun and 42% of the Sun's radius. It is a red dwarf with a stellar classification of M1.5. This star is radiating only 1.4% of the Sun's luminosity from its outer atmosphere at a relatively cool effective temperature of 3,700 K. This temperature is what gives it the red-hued glow that is a characteristic of M-type stars. The apparent magnitude of this component is 10.25, giving it an absolute magnitude of about 11.03. It is known to have a planetary system of two planets with a third planet as a strong possibility.
From the surface of Gliese 667 Cc, the second planet out that orbits along the middle of the habitable zone, Gliese 667 C would have an angular diameter of 1.24 degrees and would appear to be 2.3 times the visual diameter of our Sun, as it appears from the surface of the Earth. Gliese 667 C would have a visual area 5.4 times greater than that of the Sun but would still only occupy 0.003 percent of Gliese 667 Cc's sky sphere or 0.006 percent of the visible sky when directly overhead.
Two extrasolar planets, Gliese 667 Cb (GJ 667 Cb) and Gliese 667 Cc (GJ 667 Cc), have been found orbiting Gliese 667 C. The planets have masses of at least 6.0 and 3.9 times the mass of Earth, respectively, (and are thus classified as super-Earths). Planet Cb has an orbital period of approximately one week at a semimajor axis of 0.05 AU, while planet Cc orbits the star every four weeks at a distance of 0.1235 AU.
Planet Cb was first announced by the HARPS group on 19 October 2009, together with 29 other planets, while Cc was first mentioned in a pre-print made public on 21 November 2011, claiming that a discovery paper from the same group was in preparation. However, the announcement of a refereed journal report came on 2 February 2012 by researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science/University of Göttingen. In this announcement, GJ 667 Cc was described as one of the best candidates yet found to harbor liquid water, and thus, potentially, support life on its surface. A detailed orbital analysis and refined orbital parameters for Gliese 667 Cc were presented. Based on GJ 667 C's bolometric luminosity, GJ 667 Cc should receive 0.90 times as much sunlight as Earth does, placing it squarely in the habitable zone.
Preliminary radial-velocity measurements indicate the presence of an additional super-Earth candidate (Gliese 667 Cd), orbiting in an "extended habitable zone" where large quantities of CO2 and other greenhouse gases may make life possible (a planet similar to Gliese 581 d). However, this candidate is less certain due to the similarity of the period to very strong periodicities detected in several activity indices, meaning that the radial velocity signal could be caused by stellar parameters. Its phase sampling is also sparse, causing severe aliasing and potential confusion. Another likely period for this same candidate would be 91 days.
An additional, long-period signal was found in the data. While the trend is largely consistent with the star's orbit around the A/B primary, a minor curvature in the trend suggests that the object may have a shorter period. A preliminary solution of 7100 days was achieved, consistent with a roughly Saturn-mass planet, but a longer time baseline will be needed to differentiate between the two solutions.