Tadmur

Tadmur (Arabic: تدمر‎; also spelled Tadmor and Tudmur; in English known as Palmyra) is a city in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate. It is located in an oasis in the middle of the Syrian Desert 215 kilometres (134 mi) northeast of Damascus and 180 kilometres (110 mi) southwest of the Euphrates River. The ruins of ancient Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are situated about 500 metres (¹⁄₃ mi) southwest of the modern city centre. Relatively isolated, the nearest localities include Arak to the east, al-Sukhnah further to the northeast, Tiyas to the west and al-Qaryatayn to the southwest.

Tadmur is the administrative center of the Tadmur District and the Tadmur Subdistrict. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the city had a population of 51,323 and the subdistrict a population of 55,062 in the 2004 census. Tadmur's inhabitants were recorded to be Sunni Muslims in 1838. During the Syrian Civil War, the city's population significantly increased due to the influx of internally-displaced refugees from other parts of the country.

Gamma Cephei Ab

Gamma Cephei Ab (abbreviated γ Cephei Ab, γ Cep Ab), also named Tadmor, is an extrasolar planet approximately 45 light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus (the King). The planet was confirmed to be in orbit around Gamma Cephei A in 2002, but was first suspected to exist around 1988 (making this planet arguably the first true extrasolar planet discovered).

In July 2014 the International Astronomical Union launched a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets. The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning name for this planet was Tadmor. It was submitted by the Syrian Astronomical Association and is the ancient Semitic name and modern Arabic name for the city of Palmyra, a (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.

Detection and discovery

1988 claims

The first indications of Gamma Cephei Ab were reported in July 1988. The planet was tentatively identified by a Canadian team of astronomers, which was led by Bruce Campbell, Gordon Walker, and Stephenson Yang, while its existence was also announced by Anthony Lawton and P. Wright in 1989. Though not confirmed, this would have been the first true extrasolar planet, and it was hypothesized based on the same radial velocity technique later used successfully by others. However, the claim was retracted in 1992 due to the quality of the data not being good enough to make a solid discovery.