HD 179949 is a 6th magnitudestar in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is a yellow-white dwarf (spectral class F8 V), a type of star hotter and more luminous than the Sun. The star is located about 90 light years from Earth and might be visible under exceptionally good conditions to an experienced observer without technical aid; usually binoculars are needed.
The star HD 179949 is named Gumala. The name was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign by Brunei,[7] during the 100th anniversary of the IAU. Gumala is a Malay word, which means a magic bezoar stone found in snakes, dragons, etc.[8][9]
Monitoring of the star's spectral lines suggested a possible correlation between the star's chromospheric activity and the orbital period of its planet HD 179949 b. Later observations showed that this correlation is not present, with the star's activity being in synchrony with the star's rotation, instead of the exoplanet's orbit.[11][14] In 2022, stellar X-ray flares from the star were found to be uncorrelated with the exoplanet's orbital period.[15]
Infrared observations of HD 179949 with the Spitzer Space Telescope detected 0.14% variations in the system's brightness in phase with the orbital period of the planet, indicating large luminosity variation between the illuminated side and the dark side of the planet, implying that less than 21% of the incident stellar energy is transferred to the dark side.[18] In 2014, infrared observations of the system with the CRIRES instrument, at the Very Large Telescope, directly detected the thermal spectrum of the planet, revealing absorption features of carbon monoxide and water vapor in its atmosphere. The radial velocity of the planet has variations of 142.8 ± 3.4 km/s due to orbital motion, which allowed the calculation of a real mass of 0.98 ± 0.04 Jupiter masses and an orbital inclination of 67.7 ± 4.3 degrees.[19]
^ abHouk, Nancy; Smith-Moore, M. (1978). Michigan catalogue of two-dimensional spectral types for the HD stars. Vol. 4. Ann Arbor: Dept. of Astronomy, University of Michigan. Bibcode:1988mcts.book.....H.
^Samus, N.N.; Durlevich, O.V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/gcvs. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
^Acharya, Anshuman; Kashyap, Vinay L.; Saar, Steven H.; Kulinder Pal Singh; Cuntz, Manfred (2022), "X-Ray Activity Variations and Coronal Abundances of the Star–Planet Interaction Candidate HD 179949", The Astrophysical Journal, 951 (2): 152, arXiv:2211.01011, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acd054