WASP-16b: A NEW JUPITER-LIKE PLANET TRANSITING A SOUTHERN SOLAR ANALOG

We report the discovery from WASP-South of a new Jupiter-like extrasolar planet, WASP-16b, which transits its solar analog host star every 3.12 days. Analysis of the transit photometry and radial velocity spectroscopic data leads to a planet with R p = 1.008 ± 0.071 R Jup and M p = 0.855 ± 0.059 M Jup , orbiting a host star with R * = 0.946 ± 0.054 R ☉ and M * = 1.022 ± 0.101 M ☉ . Comparison of the high resolution stellar spectrum with synthetic spectra and stellar evolution models indicates the host star is a near-solar metallicity ([Fe/H] =0.01 ± 0.10) solar analog ( T eff = 5700 ± 150 K and log g = 4.5 ± 0.2) of intermediate age (τ = 2.3 +5.8 −2.2 Gyr).