Observational Summary:

In the year 2014, a new extrasolar planetary system in the neighborhood of the Sun was discovered. It was tentatively given the name EPS451 by the Extrasolar Planetary Survey and targeted with further observations with the Daedalus Lunar Farside Observatory 25-meter telescope.

The parallax was found to be 0.05''. Spectroscopic observations find that it has a type K0V spectrum, with a wavelength of maximum intensity of 5882 Å. Photometric observations over a large wavelength range find that the total flux from this star is a factor 2.35 × 10^-14 of that from the Sun as seen from Earth.

The observed parameters of the EPS451 primary star are:

The Daedalus Lunar Far-Side Observatory, a 25m UV-optical-IR telescope located in the crater Daedalus on the far side of the Moon, has been used to image the Blake system. A large planet was seen to be in an orbit with semi-major axis 0.35 arcseconds from Blake, with a period of 20 years 258 days.

Careful observations with the optical and IR imaging cameras show a planetary system! There seem to be at least 8 planets in the system. Although the planets are dim, and the glare of Blake is bright, relative visible and IR magnitudes were measured and thus estimates of the sizes and albedos can be made. The observationally determined parameters for the system are shown in the table below:

Orbit	Semimajor Axis ('')	Period	m (vis)	m (IR)
1	0.005	12.9 d	23.911	21.016
2	0.080	945.4 d	26.073	25.401
3	0.125	4 y 153 d	26.051	25.656
4	0.20	8.9443 y	29.323	27.678
5	0.35	20.706 y	23.295	23.338
6		52.4 y	25.886	26.418
7		140 y	28.634	29.074
8		400 y	35.908	35.908

The SETI program has monitored the system for the two decades. No radio signals attributable to intelligent origins have been intercepted. The only radio wave activity detected from the EPS451 system has been occasional faint decametric radio bursts (probably from Jovian planet magnetospheres).

Derived System Parameters:

Mission Homepage ---

smyers@nrao.edu   Steven T. Myers