A Mass for the Extrasolar Planet Gliese 876[CLC]b[/CLC] Determined from [ITAL]Hubble Space Telescope[/ITAL] Fine Guidance Sensor 3 Astrometry and High-Precision Radial Velocities

Abstract

We report the first astrometrically determined mass of an extrasolar planet, a companion previously detected by Doppler spectroscopy. Radial velocities first provided an ephemeris with which to schedule a significant fraction of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations near companion peri- and apastron. The astrometry residuals at these orbital phases exhibit a systematic deviation consistent with a perturbation due to a planetary mass companion. Combining HST astrometry with radial velocities, we solve for the proper motion, parallax, perturbation size, inclination, and position angle of the line of nodes, while constraining period, velocity amplitude, longitude of periastron, and eccentricity to values determined from radial velocities. We find a perturbation semimajor axis and inclination, α=0.25+/-0.06 mas, i=84deg+/-6deg, and Gl 876 absolute parallax, πabs=214.6+/-0.2 mas. Assuming that the mass of the primary star is M*=0.32 Msolar, we find the mass of the planet, Gl 876b, Mb=1.89+/-0.34 MJup. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.