Wasp-7: A Bright Transiting-Exoplanet System in the Southern Hemisphere

We report that a Jupiter-mass planet, WASP-7b, transits the V = 9.5 star HD 197286 every 4.95 d. This is the brightest discovery from the WASP-South transit survey so far and is currently the brightest transiting-exoplanet system in the southern hemisphere. WASP-7b is among the densest of the known Jupiter-mass planets, suggesting that it has a massive core. The planet mass is 0.96 +0.12 −0.18 M Jup , the radius is 0.915 +0.046 −0.040 R Jup , and the density is 1.26 +0.25 −0.21 ρ Jup (1.67 +0.33 −0.28 g cm −3 ).