In 2006, continuous
observation of the HD 163899 star over a
period of 37 days confirmed that it is a totally new variable star
class, namely slowly pulsating B supergiants.
Planets «b, c, and d» - On December 14, 2009, a team
of astronomers (Steven S. Vogt; Robert A. Wittenmyer, R. Paul Butler, Simon O'Toole, Gregory W. Henry, Eugenio J. Rivera, Stefano Meschiari, Gregory Laughlin, C. G. Tinney, Hugh R. A. Jones, Jeremy Bailey, Brad D. Carter, and Konstantin Batygin) announced the discovery
of one innermost orbiting super-Earth and two outer - orbiting, Neptune -
class planets (with at least 5.1, 18.2, and 24.0 Earth - masses, respectively) in moderately circular, inner orbits around 61 Virginis with
periods of 4.2, 38.0, and 124.0 days, based on radial - velocity
observations over 4.6 years with the Keck Observatory's High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) and the Anglo - Australian Telescope (U.C. Santa Cruz news release; AAO press release; Keck press release; the Lick - Carnegie Exoplanet Survey Team's «Systemic Console;» and Vogt et al, 2009).