HD 47186 is a star

Star

A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

 located approximately 129 light-year

Light-year

A light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...

s away in the constellation

Constellation

In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....

 of Canis Major

Canis Major

Canis Major is one of the 88 modern constellations, and was included in the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy's 48 constellations. Its name is Latin for 'greater dog', and is commonly represented as one of the dogs following Orion the hunter...

. It is a G6V star with the characteristics very similar to the Sun

Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

, but it is 1.7 times more metal-rich

Metallicity

In astronomy and physical cosmology, the metallicity of an object is the proportion of its matter made up of chemical elements other than hydrogen and helium...

. In 2008, two extrasolar planet

Extrasolar planet

An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of such planets have been identified as of . It is now known that a substantial fraction of stars have planets, including perhaps half of all Sun-like stars...

s were discovered orbiting the star.

Planetary system

Announced in June 2008, two extrasolar planet

Extrasolar planet

An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of such planets have been identified as of . It is now known that a substantial fraction of stars have planets, including perhaps half of all Sun-like stars...

s were discovered to be orbiting the star. Both planets are less massive than Jupiter

Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...

. The inner planet HD 47186 b

HD 47186 b

HD 47186 b is a “hot Neptune” extrasolar planet located approximately 123 light years away in the constellation of Canis Major, orbiting the star HD 47186. This planet has a minimum mass of 22.78 times that of Earth and orbits very close to the star at a similar distance from the star as 51 Pegasi...

 orbits real close to the star and is termed a “hot Neptune

Hot Neptune

A hot Neptune is an extrasolar planet in an orbit close to its star , with a mass similar to that of Uranus or Neptune. Recent observations have revealed a larger potential population of hot Neptunes than previously thought...

”. The outer planet HD 47186 c

HD 47186 c

HD 47186 c is an extrasolar planet located approximately 123 light years away in the constellation of Canis Major, orbiting the star HD 47186. This planet has a minimum mass of 0.35061 times that of Jupiter, or 1.1712 times that of Saturn. It takes 1353.6 days or 3.7059 years to revolve around the...

 orbits in a similar distance from the star as the asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 Vesta

4 Vesta

Vesta, formally designated 4 Vesta, is one of the largest asteroids, with a mean diameter of about . It was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 29, 1807, and is named after the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta....

, at around 2.4 AU. The inner planet orbits in a circular path while the outer planet orbits in an eccentric path.