Confirming fundamental properties of the exoplanet host star ε Eridani using the navy optical interferometer

Abstract

We measured the angular diameter of the exoplanet host star ε Eridani using the Navy Optical Interferometer. We determined its physical radius, effective temperature, and mass by combining our measurement with the star's parallax, photometry from the literature, and the Yonsei-Yale isochrones, respectively. We used the resulting stellar mass of 0.82 ± 0.05 M · plus the mass function from Benedict etal. to calculate the planet's mass, which is 1.53 ± 0.22 M Jupiter. Using our new effective temperature, we also estimated the extent of the habitable zone for the system. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.