Wasp-7: A Bright Transiting-Exoplanet System in the Southern Hemisphere

We report that a Jupiter-mass planet, WASP-7b, transits the V = 9.5 star HD 197286 every 4.95 d. This is the brightest discovery from the WASP-South transit survey so far and is currently the brightest transiting-exoplanet system in the southern hemisphere. WASP-7b is among the densest of the known Jupiter-mass planets, suggesting that it has a massive core. The planet mass is 0.96^+0.12 _-0.18 M _Jup, the radius is 0.915^+0.046 _-0.040 R _Jup, and the density is 1.26^+0.25 _-0.21 ρ_Jup (1.67^+0.33 _-0.28 g cm^-3).