Abstract
We present the results of the second year of exoplanet candidate host speckle observations from the SOAR TESS survey. We find 89 of the 589 newly observed TESS planet candidate hosts have ...companions within 3″, resulting in light-curve dilution, that, if not accounted for, leads to underestimated planetary radii. We combined these observations with those from Paper I to search for evidence of the impact binary stars have on planetary systems. Removing the one-quarter of the targets observed identified as false-positive planet detections, we find that transiting planets are suppressed by nearly a factor of seven in close solar-type binaries, nearly twice the suppression previously reported. The result on planet occurrence rates that are based on magnitude-limited surveys is an overestimation by a factor of two if binary suppression is not taken into account. We also find tentative evidence for similar close binary suppression of planets in M-dwarf systems. Last, we find that the high rates of widely separated companions to hot Jupiter hosts previously reported was likely a result of false-positive contamination in our sample.
We present the discovery of a transiting hot Jupiter orbiting HIP 67522 (Teff ∼ 5650 K; M* ∼ 1.2M ) in the 10-20 Myr old Sco-Cen OB association. We identified the transits in the TESS data using our ...custom notch filter planet search pipeline and characterize the system with additional photometry from Spitzer; spectroscopy from SOAR/Goodman, SALT/HRS, LCOGT/NRES, and SMARTS/CHIRON; and speckle imaging from SOAR/HRCam. We model the photometry as a periodic Gaussian process with transits to account for stellar variability and find an orbital period of days and radius of R⊕. We also identify a single transit of an additional candidate planet with radius R⊕ that has an orbital period of 23 days. The validated planet HIP 67522b is currently the youngest transiting hot Jupiter discovered and is an ideal candidate for transmission spectroscopy and radial velocity follow-up studies, while also demonstrating that some young giant planets either form in situ at small orbital radii or else migrate promptly from formation sites farther out in the disk.
Proxima b is a terrestrial-mass planet in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri's high stellar activity, however, casts doubt on the habitability of Proxima b: sufficiently bright ...and frequent flares and any associated proton events may destroy the planet's ozone layer, allowing lethal levels of UV flux to reach its surface. In 2016 March, the Evryscope observed the first naked-eye-brightness superflare detected from Proxima Centauri. Proxima increased in optical flux by a factor of ∼68 during the superflare and released a bolometric energy of 1033.5 erg, ∼10× larger than any previously detected flare from Proxima. Over the last two years the Evryscope has recorded 23 other large Proxima flares ranging in bolometric energy from 1030.6 to 1032.4 erg; coupling those rates with the single superflare detection, we predict that at least five superflares occur each year. Simultaneous high-resolution High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectroscopy during the Evryscope superflare constrains the superflare's UV spectrum and any associated coronal mass ejections. We use these results and the Evryscope flare rates to model the photochemical effects of NOx atmospheric species generated by particle events from this extreme stellar activity, and show that the repeated flaring may be sufficient to reduce the ozone of an Earth-like atmosphere by 90% within five years; complete depletion may occur within several hundred kyr. The UV light produced by the Evryscope superflare would therefore have reached the surface with ∼100× the intensity required to kill simple UV-hardy microorganisms, suggesting that life would have to undergo extreme adaptations to survive in the surface areas of Proxima b exposed to these flares.
ABSTRACT The Robo-AO Kepler Planetary Candidate Survey is observing every Kepler planet candidate host star with laser adaptive optics imaging to search for blended nearby stars, which may be ...physically associated companions and/or responsible for transit false positives. In this paper, we present the results of our search for stars nearby 1629 Kepler planet candidate hosts. With survey sensitivity to objects as close as ∼0 15, and magnitude differences Δm , we find 223 stars in the vicinity of 206 target KOIs; 209 of these nearby stars have not been previously imaged in high resolution. We measure an overall nearby-star probability for Kepler planet candidates of at separations between 0 15 and 4 0. Particularly interesting KOI systems are discussed, including 26 stars with detected companions that host rocky, habitable zone candidates and five new candidate planet-hosting quadruple star systems. We explore the broad correlations between planetary systems and stellar binarity, using the combined data set of Baranec et al. and this paper. Our previous 2 result of a low detected nearby star fraction of KOIs hosting close-in giant planets is less apparent in this larger data set. We also find a significant correlation between detected nearby star fraction and KOI number, suggesting possible variation between early and late Kepler data releases.
The Robo-AO Kepler Planetary Candidate Survey is observing every Kepler planet candidate host star with laser adaptive optics imaging to search for blended nearby stars, which may be physically ...associated companions and/or responsible for transit false positives. In this paper, we present the results from the 2012 observing season, searching for stars close to 715 Kepler planet candidate hosts. We find 53 companions, 43 of which are new discoveries. We detail the Robo-AO survey data reduction methods including a method of using the large ensemble of target observations as mutual point-spread-function references, along with a new automated companion-detection algorithm designed for large adaptive optics surveys. Our survey is sensitive to objects from approximately 0".15 to 2".5 separation, with magnitude differences up to Delta m approximately 6. We measure an overall nearby-star probability for Kepler planet candidates of 7.4% + or - 1.0%, and calculate the effects of each detected nearby star on the Kepler-measured planetary radius. We discuss several Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) of particular interest, including KOI-191 and KOI-1151, which are both multi-planet systems with detected stellar companions whose unusual planetary system architecture might be best explained if they are "coincident multiple" systems, with several transiting planets shared between the two stars. Finally, we find 98% confidence evidence that short-period giant planets are two to three times more likely than longer-period planets to be found in wide stellar binaries.
We report the discovery of two intermediate-mass transiting brown dwarfs (BDs), TOI-569b and TOI-1406b, from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission. TOI-569b has an orbital period of P ...= 6.55604 0.00016 days, a mass of Mb = 64.1 1.9 , and a radius of Rb = 0.75 0.02 . Its host star, TOI-569, has a mass of M = 1.21 0.05 , a radius of R = 1.47 0.03 , dex, and an effective temperature of Teff = 5768 110 K. TOI-1406b has an orbital period of P = 10.57415 0.00063 days, a mass of Mb = 46.0 2.7 , and a radius of Rb = 0.86 0.03 . The host star for this BD has a mass of M = 1.18 0.09 , a radius of R = 1.35 0.03 , dex, and an effective temperature of Teff = 6290 100 K. Both BDs are in circular orbits around their host stars and are older than 3 Gyr based on stellar isochrone models of the stars. TOI-569 is one of two slightly evolved stars known to host a transiting BD (the other being KOI-415). TOI-1406b is one of three known transiting BDs to occupy the mass range of 40-50 and one of two to have a circular orbit at a period near 10 days (with the first being KOI-205b). Both BDs have reliable ages from stellar isochrones, in addition to their well-constrained masses and radii, making them particularly valuable as tests for substellar isochrones in the BD mass-radius diagram.
ABSTRACT We initiated the Robo-AO Kepler Planetary Candidate Survey in 2012 to observe each Kepler exoplanet candidate host star with high angular resolution, visible light, laser adaptive optics ...(AOs) imaging. Our goal is to find nearby stars lying in Kepler's photometric apertures that are responsible for the relatively high probability of false-positive exoplanet detections and that cause underestimates of the size of transit radii. Our comprehensive survey will also shed light on the effects of stellar multiplicity on exoplanet properties and will identify rare exoplanetary architectures. In this second part of our ongoing survey, we observed an additional 969 Kepler planet candidate hosts and we report blended stellar companions up to that contribute to Kepler's measured light curves. We found 203 companions within ∼4″ of 181 of the Kepler stars, of which 141 are new discoveries. We measure the nearby star probability for this sample of Kepler planet candidate host stars to be 10.6% 1.1% at angular separations up to 2 5, significantly higher than the 7.4% 1.0% probability discovered in our initial sample of 715 stars; we find the probability increases to 17.6% 1.5% out to a separation of 4 0. The median position of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) observed in this survey are 1 1 closer to the galactic plane, which may account for some of the nearby star probability enhancement. We additionally detail 50 Keck AO images of Robo-AO observed KOIs in order to confirm 37 companions detected at a <5 significance level and to obtain additional infrared photometry on higher significance detected companions.
Abstract
We present the discovery of TOI 540 b, a hot planet slightly smaller than Earth orbiting the low-mass star 2MASS J05051443-4756154. The planet has an orbital period of
P
= 1.239149 days ...(±170 ms) and a radius of
, and is likely terrestrial based on the observed mass–radius distribution of small exoplanets at similar insolations. The star is 14.008 pc away and we estimate its mass and radius to be
and
, respectively. The star is distinctive in its very short rotational period of
hr and correspondingly small Rossby number of 0.007 as well as its high X-ray-to-bolometric luminosity ratio of
based on a serendipitous XMM-Newton detection during a slew operation. This is consistent with the X-ray emission being observed at a maximum value of
as predicted for the most rapidly rotating M dwarfs. TOI 540 b may be an alluring target to study atmospheric erosion due to the strong stellar X-ray emission. It is also among the most accessible targets for transmission and emission spectroscopy and eclipse photometry with the James Webb Space Telescope, and may permit Doppler tomography with high-resolution spectroscopy during transit. This discovery is based on precise photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and ground-based follow-up observations by the MEarth team.
Abstract
We report the discovery and characterization of three giant exoplanets orbiting solar-analog stars, detected by the TESS space mission and confirmed through ground-based photometry and ...radial velocity measurements taken at La Silla observatory with FEROS. TOI-2373 b is a warm Jupiter orbiting its host star every ∼13.3 days, and is one of the most massive known exoplanet with a precisely determined mass and radius around a star similar to the Sun, with an estimated mass of
m
p
=
9.3
−
0.2
+
0.2
M
jup
and a radius of
r
p
=
0.93
−
0.2
+
0.2
R
jup
. With a mean density of
ρ
=
14.4
−
1.0
+
0.9
g
cm
−
3
, TOI-2373 b is among the densest planets discovered so far. TOI-2416 b orbits its host star on a moderately eccentric orbit with a period of ∼8.3 days and an eccentricity of
e
=
0.32
−
0.02
+
0.02
. TOI-2416 b is more massive than Jupiter with
m
p
=
3.0
−
0.09
+
0.10
M
jup
, however is significantly smaller with a radius of
r
p
=
0.88
−
0.02
+
0.02
,
R
jup
, leading to a high mean density of
ρ
=
5.4
−
0.3
+
0.3
g
cm
−
3
. TOI-2524 b is a warm Jupiter near the hot Jupiter transition region, orbiting its star every ∼7.2 days on a circular orbit. It is less massive than Jupiter with a mass of
m
p
=
0.64
−
0.04
+
0.04
M
jup
, and is consistent with an inflated radius of
r
p
=
1.00
−
0.03
+
0.02
R
jup
, leading to a low mean density of
ρ
=
0.79
−
0.08
+
0.08
g
cm
−
3
. The newly discovered exoplanets TOI-2373 b, TOI-2416 b, and TOI-2524 b have estimated equilibrium temperatures of
860
−
10
+
10
K,
1080
−
10
+
10
K, and
1100
−
20
+
20
K, respectively, placing them in the sparsely populated transition zone between hot and warm Jupiters.
Adaptive optics laser guide-star systems perform atmospheric correction of stellar wavefronts in two parts: stellar tip-tilt and high-spatial-order laser correction. The requirement of a sufficiently ...bright guide star in the field-of-view to correct tip-tilt limits sky coverage. In this paper, we show an improvement to effective seeing without the need for nearby bright stars, enabling full sky coverage by performing only laser-assisted wavefront correction. We used Robo-AO, the first robotic AO system, to comprehensively demonstrate this laser-only correction. We analyze observations from four years of efficient robotic operation covering 15000 targets and 42000 observations, each realizing different seeing conditions. Using an autoguider (or a post-processing software equivalent) and the laser to improve effective seeing independent of the brightness of a target, Robo-AO observations show a 39% 19% improvement to effective FWHM, without any tip-tilt correction. We also demonstrate that 50% encircled energy performance without tip-tilt correction remains comparable to diffraction-limited, standard Robo-AO performance. Faint-target science programs primarily limited by 50% encircled energy (e.g., those employing integral field spectrographs placed behind the AO system) may see significant benefits to sky coverage from employing laser-only AO.
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