Circumbinary Planets

(This Page is for Planets on P-type orbits that orbit both stars. For planets on S-type orbits, click here)

                                                   .... CURRENTLY 21 SYSTEMS IN THE DATABASE

=> A MACHINE READABLE TABLE of all circumbinary planets' main characteristics (sorted by increasing binary separation) is available for download.

Figure 1: Architecture of confirmed binary systems harboring a confirmed exoplanet on a P-type orbit, that is, a planet orbiting both stars. Note that we plot here, for both the companion star and the planet(s), the semi-major axis centered on the binary's center of mass. The blue circles' location shows the semi-major axis of the exoplanet while the yellow circles show the location of the companion star. The radius of the blue circle is proportional to the estimated radius of the planet (or the cubic root of its mass when only a mass estimate is available). The radius of the yellow circle is proportional to the cubic root of the mass ratio between the companion and the central star (for the sake of visibility, the sizes of the planets have been inflated by a factor 20 with respect to the sizes of the yellow stars).
For both the planets and the stars, the horizontal purple line represents the radial excursion due to the object's eccentricity. The black vertical line plotted between the stellar companion and the planet represents the inner limit for long-term orbital stability as estimated with the widely used empirical formula of Holman & Wiegert (1999), assuming that the planet and the binary are coplanar. // Planets detected by the radial velocity method are written in black, planets detected by transit are in blue, and planets detected by other methods (here mostly timing) are in red.

Notes & References on individual systems:

-DP Leo: planet detected by timing by Qian+(2010) / Post-common envelope cataclysmic binary

-NN Ser: First planets hinted at in Beuermann+(2010), still debated but claimed as probably confirmed by Özdömez+(2023). Planets characateristics not fully constrained yet / Post-common envelope cataclysmic binary

-Kepler-451(2M 1938+46): First planet detected by timing by Baran+(2015) / Binarity by Ostensen+(2010)

-NY Vir: Planets detected by timing by Qian+(2012)

-RR Cae: Planet detected by timing by Qian+(2012), Rattamala+(2023) argues for possibly 2 planets 

-OGLE-2007-BLG-309L: First circumbinary planet detected by microlensing / Planet and binary by Bennett+(2016)

-Kepler-47: First 2 planets and binary by Orosz(2012)

-Kepler-413: Planet discovered by Kostov+(2014) / The planet has a wobbly orbit inclined by 4 deg

-TOI-1338: 1st Planet by Kostov+(2020) 2nd planet by Standing+(2023) / Refined stellar masses by Sebastian+(2024) 

-Kepler-1647: Planet by Kostov+(2016)

-Kepler-38: Planet by Orosz+(2012)

-Kepler-35: Planet by Welsh+(2012)

-Kepler-64*(PH1): Planet by Kostov+(2013) and Schwamb+(2013) / Quadruple system with another (60au separation) binary at 1000au from the central one

-Kepler-453: Planet by Welsh+(2014)

-Kepler-1661: Planet by Socia+(2020)

-TIC 172900988: Planet by Kostov+(2021), planet and binary orbits refined by Sairam+(2024)

-PSR B1620-26: Pulsar / Planet hinted at as early as Thorsett+(1993), confirmed by Sigurdsson+(2003)

-Kepler-1660: Planet detected by eclipse timing variation by Getley+(2017), confirmed by Goldberg+(2023) as coplanar but non-transiting

-Kepler-16: Planet by Doyle+(2011)

-Kepler-34: Planet by Welsh+(2012)

-OGLE-2023-BLG-0836: Planet and binary by Han+(2024) / Second circumbinary planet detected by microlensing / The planetary orbit is unstable when considering that projected separations correspond to physical ones (suggesting a significant inclination with respect to the line of sight)

                                    .... Page developed and maintained by Philippe Thebault