Previous studies of planet occurrence rates largely relied on photometric stellar characterizations. In this paper, we present planet occurrence rates for mid-type M dwarfs using spectroscopy, ...parallaxes, and photometry to determine stellar characteristics. Our spectroscopic observations have allowed us to constrain spectral type, temperatures, and, in some cases, metallicities for 337 out of 561 probable mid-type M dwarfs in the primary Kepler field. We use a random forest classifier to assign a spectral type to the remaining 224 stars. Combining our data with Gaia parallaxes, we compute precise (∼3%) stellar radii and masses, which we use to update planet parameters and occurrence rates for Kepler mid-type M dwarfs. Within the Kepler field, there are seven M3 V to M5 V stars that host 13 confirmed planets between 0.5 and 2.5 Earth radii and at orbital periods between 0.5 and 10 days. For this population, we compute a planet occurrence rate of planets per star. For M3 V, M4 V, and M5 V, we compute planet occurrence rates of , , and planets per star, respectively.
During its two-year prime mission, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will perform a time-series photometric survey covering over 80% of the sky. This survey comprises observations of ...26 24° × 96° sectors that are each monitored continuously for approximately 27 days. The main goal of TESS is to find transiting planets around 200,000 pre-selected stars for which fixed aperture photometry is recorded every two minutes. However, TESS is also recording and delivering full-frame images (FFIs) of each detector at a 30-minutes cadence. We have created an open-source tool, eleanor, to produce light curves for objects in the TESS FFIs. Here, we describe the methods used in eleanor to produce light curves that are optimized for planet searches. The tool performs background subtraction; aperture and point-spread function photometry; decorrelation of instrument systematics; and cotrending using principal component analysis. We recover known transiting exoplanets in the FFIs to validate the pipeline and perform a limited search for new planet candidates in Sector 1. Our tests indicate that eleanor produces light curves with significantly less scatter than other tools that have been used in the literature. Cadence-stacked images, and raw and detrended eleanor light curves for each analyzed star will be hosted on Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, with planet candidates on ExoFOP-TESS as Community TESS Objects of Interest. This work confirms the promise that the TESS FFIs will enable the detection of thousands of new exoplanets and a broad range of time domain astrophysics.
Previous measurements of stellar properties for K2 stars in the Ecliptic Plane Input Catalog largely relied on photometry and proper motion measurements, with some added information from available ...spectra and parallaxes. Combining Gaia DR2 distances with spectroscopic measurements of effective temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) DR5, we computed updated stellar radii and masses for 26,838 K2 stars. For 195,250 targets without a LAMOST spectrum, we derived stellar parameters using random forest regression on photometric colors trained on the LAMOST sample. In total, we measured spectral types, effective temperatures, surface gravities, metallicities, radii, and masses for 222,088 A, F, G, K, and M-type K2 stars. With these new stellar radii, we performed a simple reanalysis of 299 confirmed and 517 candidate K2 planet radii from Campaigns 1-13, elucidating a distinct planet radius valley around 1.9 R⊕, a feature thus far only conclusively identified with Kepler planets, and tentatively identified with K2 planets. These updated stellar parameters are a crucial step in the process toward computing K2 planet occurrence rates.
A key legacy of the recently launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission will be to provide the astronomical community with many of the best transiting exoplanet targets for ...atmospheric characterization. However, time is of the essence to take full advantage of this opportunity. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), although delayed, will still complete its nominal five year mission on a timeline that motivates rapid identification, confirmation, and mass measurement of the top atmospheric characterization targets from TESS. Beyond JWST, future dedicated missions for atmospheric studies such as the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (ARIEL) require the discovery and confirmation of several hundred additional sub-Jovian size planets (Rp < 10 R⊕) orbiting bright stars, beyond those known today, to ensure a successful statistical census of exoplanet atmospheres. Ground-based extremely large telescopes (ELTs) will also contribute to surveying the atmospheres of the transiting planets discovered by TESS. Here we present a set of two straightforward analytic metrics, quantifying the expected signal-to-noise in transmission and thermal emission spectroscopy for a given planet, that will allow the top atmospheric characterization targets to be readily identified among the TESS planet candidates. Targets that meet our proposed threshold values for these metrics would be encouraged for rapid follow-up and confirmation via radial velocity mass measurements. Based on the catalog of simulated TESS detections by Sullivan et al., we determine appropriate cutoff values of the metrics, such that the TESS mission will ultimately yield a sample of ∼300 high-quality atmospheric characterization targets across a range of planet size bins, extending down to Earth-size, potentially habitable worlds.
ABSTRACT We present 197 planet candidates discovered using data from the first year of the NASA K2 mission (Campaigns 0-4), along with the results of an intensive program of photometric analyses, ...stellar spectroscopy, high-resolution imaging, and statistical validation. We distill these candidates into sets of 104 validated planets (57 in multi-planet systems), false positives, and 63 remaining candidates. Our validated systems span a range of properties, with median values of RP = , P = days, = K, and Kp = mag. Stellar spectroscopy provides precise stellar and planetary parameters for most of these systems. We show that K2 has increased by 30% the number of small planets known to orbit moderately bright stars (1-4 R⊕, Kp = 9-13 mag). Of particular interest are planets smaller than 2 R⊕, orbiting stars brighter than Kp = 11.5 mag, 5 receiving Earth-like irradiation levels, and several multi-planet systems-including 4 planets orbiting the M dwarf K2-72 near mean-motion resonances. By quantifying the likelihood that each candidate is a planet we demonstrate that our candidate sample has an overall false positive rate of 15%-30%, with rates substantially lower for small candidates ( ) and larger for candidates with radii and/or with . Extrapolation of the current planetary yield suggests that K2 will discover between 500 and 1000 planets in its planned four-year mission, assuming sufficient follow-up resources are available. Efficient observing and analysis, together with an organized and coherent follow-up strategy, are essential for maximizing the efficacy of planet-validation efforts for K2, TESS, and future large-scale surveys.
Abstract
One core goal of the Kepler mission was to determine the frequency of Earth-like planets that orbit Sun-like stars. Accurately estimating this planet occurrence rate requires both a ...well-vetted list of planets and a clear understanding of the stars searched for planets. Previous ground-based follow-up observations have, through a variety of methods, sought to improve our knowledge of stars that are known to host planets. Kepler targets without detected planets, however, have not been subjected to the same intensity of follow-up observations. In this paper, we constrain better the stellar multiplicity for stars around which Kepler could have theoretically detected a transiting Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone. We subsequently aim to improve estimates of the exoplanet search completeness—the fraction of exoplanets that were detected by Kepler—with our analysis. By obtaining adaptive optics observations of 71 Kepler target stars from the Shane 3 m telescope at Lick Observatory, we detected 14 candidate stellar companions within 4″ of 13 target stars. Of these 14 candidate stellar companions, we determine through multiple independent methods that 3 are likely to be bound to their corresponding target star. We then assess the impact of our observations on exoplanet occurrence rate calculations, finding an increase in occurrence of 6% (0.9
σ
) for various estimates of the frequency of Earth-like planets and an increase of 26% (4.5
σ
) for super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. These occurrence increases are not entirely commensurate with theoretical predictions, though this discrepancy may be due to differences in the treatment of stellar binarity.
A fundamental assumption in our understanding of disks is that when the Toomre Q > >1, the disk is stable against fragmentation into self-gravitating objects (and so cannot form planets via direct ...collapse). But if disks are turbulent, this neglects a spectrum of stochastic density fluctuations that can produce rare, high-density mass concentrations. Here, we use a recently developed analytic framework to predict the statistics of these fluctuations, i.e., the rate of fragmentation and mass spectrum of fragments formed in a turbulent Keplerian disk. Turbulent disks are never completely stable: we calculate the (always finite) probability of forming self-gravitating structures via stochastic turbulent density fluctuations in such disks. Modest sub-sonic turbulence above Mach number M ~ 0.1 can produce a few stochastic fragmentation or "direct collapse" events over ~Myr timescales, even if Q >>1 and cooling is slow (t sub(cool) > >t sub(orbit)). In transsonic turbulence this extends to Q ~ 100. We derive the true Q-criterion needed to suppress such events, which scales exponentially with Mach number. We specify to turbulence driven by magneto-rotational instability, convection, or spiral waves and derive equivalent criteria in terms of Q and the cooling time. Cooling times > ~ 50 t sub(dyn) may be required to completely suppress fragmentation. These gravo-turbulent events produce mass spectra peaked near ~(Q M sub(disk)/Mlo w *) super(2) M sub(disk) (rocky-to-giant planet masses, increasing with distance from the star). We apply this to protoplanetary disk models and show that even minimum-mass solar nebulae could experience stochastic collapse events, provided a source of turbulence.
We carry out a phase-curve analysis of the KELT-9 system using photometric observations from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The measured secondary eclipse depth and peak-to-peak ...atmospheric brightness modulation are and 566 16 ppm, respectively. The planet's brightness variation reaches maximum 31 5 minutes before the midpoint of the secondary eclipse, indicating a 5 2 0 9 eastward shift in the dayside hot spot from the substellar point. We also detect stellar pulsations on KELT-9 with a period of 7.58695 0.00091 hr. The dayside emission of KELT-9b in the TESS bandpass is consistent with a blackbody brightness temperature of 4600 100 K. The corresponding nightside brightness temperature is 3040 100 K, comparable to the dayside temperatures of the hottest known exoplanets. In addition, we detect a significant phase-curve signal at the first harmonic of the orbital frequency and a marginal signal at the second harmonic. While the amplitude of the first harmonic component is consistent with the predicted ellipsoidal distortion modulation assuming equilibrium tides, the phase of this photometric variation is shifted relative to the expectation. Placing KELT-9b in the context of other exoplanets with phase-curve observations, we find that the elevated nightside temperature and relatively low day-night temperature contrast agree with the predictions of atmospheric models that include H2 dissociation and recombination. The nightside temperature of KELT-9b implies an atmospheric composition containing about 50% molecular and 50% atomic hydrogen at 0.1 bar, a nightside emission spectrum that deviates significantly from a blackbody, and a 0.5-2.0 m transmission spectrum that is featureless at low resolution.
Sixty Validated Planets from K2 Campaigns 5-8 Livingston, John H.; Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Petigura, Erik A. ...
The Astronomical journal,
12/2018, Volume:
156, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We present a uniform analysis of candidates from the second year of NASA's K2 mission (Campaigns 5-8), yielding statistically validated planets spanning a range of properties with median values of Rp ...= , P = days, Teq = K, and J = mag. The sample includes planets in 11 multiplanetary systems, as well as 18 false positives and remaining planet candidates. Of particular interest are planets smaller than 2 , five orbiting stars brighter than J = 10 mag, and a system of four small planets orbiting the solar-type star EPIC 212157262. We compute planetary transit parameters and false-positive probabilities using a robust statistical framework and present a complete analysis incorporating the results of an intensive campaign of high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic observations. This work brings the K2 yield to over 360 planets, and by extrapolation, we expect that K2 will have discovered ∼600 planets before the expected depletion of its onboard fuel in late 2018.
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