Planet b has a close
inner orbit around Star A at a semi-major axis of only 0.0717 + / - 0.0034 AUs (Howard et al, 2014).
Moreover, the brown dwarf companion to 15 Sge may eventually prove to have a highly circular orbit that is coplanar with the circumstellar disk so that planets formed in
inner orbits around the star.
Not exact matches
On March 25, 2015, a team of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope revealed observations which indicate via the transit method that Alpha Centauri B may have a second planet «c» in a hot
inner orbit, just outside planet candidate «b.» After observing Alpha Centauri B in 2013 and 2014 for a total of 40 hours, the team failed to detect any transits involving planet b (previously detected using the radial velocity variations method and recently determined not to be observed edge - on in a transit
orbit around Star B).
Assuming that the spectroscopic companion B does not preclude a stable
inner planetary
orbit, the distance from
Star A where an Earth - type planet would be «comfortable» with liquid water is centered
around only 0.457 AU — between the orbital distances of Mercury and Venus in the Solar System.
On the other hand, the discovery of a brown dwarf companion in a wide
orbit that could perturb dormant comets in an Oort Cloud
around Epsilon Indi inwards towards the
star's
inner planetary regions may periodically shower an Earth - type,
inner planet with catastrophic impacts.
The smallest planet
orbits Kepler - 33, a
star older and more massive than our Sun, Sol, which also had the most detected planet candidates at five (ranging in size from 1.5 to 5 times that of Earth) in uninhabitable, hot
inner orbits closer to their
star than even Mercury
around our Sun (NASA Kepler news release; and JPL news release).
HD 85512 b has some 3.6 Earth - masses and appears to
orbit near the estimated
inner edge of the habitable zone
around its host
star, where liquid water, and possibly life, may exist under favorable conditions (more).
On July 21, 2003, some astronomers provided evidence from recent discoveries of giant extrasolar planets in mostly
inner orbits around host
stars that planetary systems may be more common
around stars whose spectra show an enriched abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium — also called high «metallicity» (exoplanets.org press release; and Gonzalez, 1999).