The first super-Earth with measured radius discovered was CoRoT-7b and it has opened the new field of rocky exoplanet characterisation. To better understand this interesting system, new observations ...were taken with the CoRoT satellite. During this run 90 new transits were obtained in the imagette mode. These were analysed together with the previous 151 transits obtained in the discovery run and HARPS radial velocity observations to derive accurate system parameters. A difference is found in the posterior probability distribution of the transit parameters between the previous CoRoT run (LRa01) and the new run (LRa06). We propose that this is due to an extra noise component in the previous CoRoT run suspected of being transit spot occultation events. These lead to the mean transit shape becoming V-shaped. We show that the extra noise component is dominant at low stellar flux levels and reject these transits in the final analysis. We obtained a planetary radius, Rp = 1.585 ± 0.064 R⊕ , in agreement with previous estimates. Combining the planetary radius with the new mass estimates results in a planetary density of 1.19 ± 0.27 ρ⊕ which is consistent with a rocky composition. The CoRoT-7 system remains an excellent test bed for the effects of activity in the derivation of planetary parameters in the shallow transit regime.
Context. Pulsations in pre-main sequence stars have been discovered several times within the last years. But nearly all of these pulsators are of δ Scuti-type. γ Doradus-type pulsation in young stars ...has been predicted by theory, but lack observational evidence. Aims. We present the investigation of variability caused by rotation and (γ Doradus-type) pulsation in two pre-main sequence members of the young open cluster NGC 2264 using high-precision time series photometry from the CoRoT satellite and dedicated high-resolution spectroscopy. Methods. The variability found using the CoRoT data was combined with the fundamental parameters and chemical abundances derived from high-resolution spectroscopy, obtained at the Mc Donald Observatory, to discuss the presence of pulsation and rotation in the two NGC 2264 cluster members. Time series photometry of NGC 2264 VAS 20 and NGC 2264 VAS 87 was obtained by the CoRoT satellite during the dedicated short run SRa01 in March 2008. NGC 2264 VAS 87 was re-observed by CoRoT during the short run SRa05 in December 2011 and January 2012. Frequency analysis was conducted using Period04 and SigSpec. The spectral analysis was performed using equivalent widths and spectral synthesis. Results. The frequency analysis yielded ten (NGC 2264 VAS 20) and fourteen (NGC 2264 VAS 87) intrinsic frequencies in the range from 0 to 1.5 d-1, which are attributed to be caused by a combination of rotation and pulsation. The effective temperatures were derived to be 6380 ± 150 K for NGC 2264 VAS 20 and 6220 ± 150 K for NGC 2264 VAS 87. Membership of the two stars to the cluster is confirmed independently using X-ray fluxes, radial velocity measurements, and proper motions available in the literature. The derived lithium abundances of log n(Li) = 3.34 and 3.54 for NGC 2264 VAS 20 and NGC 2264 VAS 87 agree with the lithium abundance for other stars in NGC 2264 of similar Teff reported in the literature. Conclusions. We conclude that the two objects are members of NGC 2264 and therefore are in their pre-main sequence evolutionary stage. Their variability is attributed to be caused by rotation and g-mode pulsation rather than rotation only. Assuming that part of their variability is caused by pulsation, these two stars might be the first pre-main sequence γ Doradus candidates.
Context. The asteroseismic exploitation of long period, g-mode hot B subdwarf (sdB) pulsators has been a long sought objective undermined, thus far, by the difficulty of obtaining sufficiently ...precise and continuous time series data from the ground. Aims: Fast photometry from space appears to be the only means of gathering the appropriate asteroseismic data for this type of star. We explore this possibility with the CoRoT (COnvection, ROtation, and planetary Transits) satellite. Methods: We obtained ~24 days of high quality, nearly continuous photometric data with CoRoT during a short run (SRa03) dedicated to the long period sdB pulsator KPD 0629-0016. We analysed the frequency (period) content of the CoRoT time series by combining Fourier analysis, nonlinear least squares fitting, and prewhitening techniques. Results: Our study has led to the detection of a large number of g-mode pulsations in KPD 0629-0016, with 17 frequencies clearly identified in addition to 7 possible (although more uncertain) peaks emerging above the mean noise level (estimated at ~57 ppm). This is more than is typically detected for sdB stars from the ground and, more importantly, the frequencies of all uncovered g-modes are, for the first time, reliably measured. This paves the way for a detailed asteroseismic analysis of this star. The oscillations are found in the 90-400 muHz frequency range with a dominant mode at 205.29 muHz (P = 1.353 h) of amplitude 0.246% of the mean brightness, i.e., typical of mid-radial order g-mode pulsations. Conclusions: These photometric observations of KPD 0629-0016 demonstrate that g-mode sdB pulsators have rich oscillation spectra that are accessible to current space-based facilities. CoRoT opens up a new era in asteroseismology of hot B subdwarf stars.
We present the discovery of two transiting extrasolar planets by the satellite CoRoT. We aim at a characterization of the planetary bulk parameters, which allow us to further investigate the ...formation and evolution of the planetary systems and the main properties of the host stars. We used the transit light curve to characterize the planetary parameters relative to the stellar parameters. The analysis of HARPS spectra established the planetary nature of the detections, providing their masses. Further photometric and spectroscopic ground-based observations provided stellar parameters to characterize the host stars. Our model takes the geometry of the transit to constrain the stellar density into account, which when linked to stellar evolutionary models, determines the bulk parameters of the star. The two new planetary systems have very interesting properties and deserve further study, particularly in the case of the star CoRoT-29.
Context. The object HD 43587Aa is a G0V star observed during the 145-day LRa03 run of the COnvection, ROtation and planetary Transits space mission (CoRoT), for which complementary High Accuracy ...Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectra with S/N > 300 were also obtained. Its visual magnitude is 5.71, and its effective temperature is close to 5950 K. It has a known companion in a highly eccentric orbit and is also coupled with two more distant companions. Aims. We undertake a preliminary investigation of the internal structure of HD 43587Aa. Methods. We carried out a seismic analysis of the star, using maximum likelihood estimators and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Results. We established the first table of the eigenmode frequencies, widths, and heights for HD 43587Aa. The star appears to have a mass and a radius slightly larger than the Sun, and is slightly older (5.6 Gyr). Two scenarios are suggested for the geometry of the star: either its inclination angle is very low, or the rotation velocity of the star is very low. Conclusions. A more detailed study of the rotation and of the magnetic and chromospheric activity for this star is needed, and will be the subject of a further study. New high resolution spectrometric observations should be performed for at least several months in duration.
The observations made by the CoRoT satellite were divided into short and long periods called runs; for a detailed description of the runs see 1. The global processing pipeline is divided in two ...sub-pipelines: the first one is dedicated to the corrections that can be applied to simultaneous data, while the second one needs the whole duration of each run to be applied. We present here the final form of the entire processing pipeline for the faint stars channel, which was previously called the exo channel.
Context. CoRoT is a space telescope dedicated to stellar seismology and the search for extrasolar planets. The mission is led by the CNES in association with French laboratories and has a large ...international participation. The European Space Agency (ESA), Austria, Belgium, and Germany contribute to the payload, and Spain and Brazil contribute to the ground segment. Development of the spacecraft, which is based on a PROTEUS low earth orbit (LEO) recurrent platform, commenced in October 2000, and the satellite was launched on December 27, 2006. Aims. The instrument and platform characteristics prior to launch have been described in ESA publication (SP-1306). In the present paper we explain the behaviour in flight, based on raw and corrected data. Methods. Five runs have been completed since January 2007. The data used here are essentially those acquired during the commissioning phase and from a long run that lasted 146 days. These enable us to give a complete overview of the instrument and platform behaviour for all environmental conditions. The ground based data processing is not described in detail because the most important method has been published elsewhere. Results. We show that the performance specifications are easily satisfied when the environmental conditions are favourable. Most of the perturbations, hence data corrections, are related to LEO perturbations: high energy particles inside the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), eclipses and temperature variations, and line of sight fluctuations due to the attitude control system. Straylight due to the reflected light from the earth, which is controlled by the telescope and baffle design, appears to be negligible.
We report the discovery of very shallow (DF/F = 3.4 10-4), periodic dips in the light curve of an active V = 11.7 G9V star observed by the CoRoT satellite, which we interpret as due to the presence ...of a transiting companion. We describe the 3-colour CoRoT data and complementary ground-based observations that support the planetary nature of the companion. Methods. We use CoRoT color information, good angular resolution ground-based photometric observations in- and out- of transit, adaptive optics imaging, near-infrared spectroscopy and preliminary results from Radial Velocity measurements, to test the diluted eclipsing binary scenarios. The parameters of the host star are derived from optical spectra, which were then combined with the CoRoT light curve to derive parameters of the companion. We examine carefully all conceivable cases of false positives, and all tests performed support the planetary hypothesis. Blends with separation larger than 0.40 arcsec or triple systems are almost excluded with a 8 10-4 risk left. We conclude that, as far as we have been exhaustive, we have discovered a planetary companion, named CoRoT-7b, for which we derive a period of 0.853 59 +/- 3 10-5 day and a radius of Rp = 1.68 +/- 0.09 REarth. Analysis of preliminary radial velocity data yields an upper limit of 21 MEarth for the companion mass, supporting the finding. CoRoT-7b is very likely the first Super-Earth with a measured radius.
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