The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) recently observed 18 transits of the hot Jupiter WASP-4b. The sequence of transits occurred 81.6 11.7 s earlier than had been predicted, based on data ...stretching back to 2007. This is unlikely to be the result of a clock error, because TESS observations of other hot Jupiters (WASP-6b, 18b, and 46b) are compatible with a constant period, ruling out an 81.6 s offset at the 6.4 level. The 1.3 day orbital period of WASP-4b appears to be decreasing at a rate of ms per year. The apparent period change might be caused by tidal orbital decay or apsidal precession, although both interpretations have shortcomings. The gravitational influence of a third body is another possibility, though at present there is minimal evidence for such a body. Further observations are needed to confirm and understand the timing variation.
ABSTRACT New insights on stellar evolution and stellar interior physics are being made possible by asteroseismology. Throughout the course of the Kepler mission, asteroseismology has also played an ...important role in the characterization of exoplanet-host stars and their planetary systems. The upcoming NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will be performing a near all-sky survey for planets that transit bright nearby stars. In addition, its excellent photometric precision, combined with its fine time sampling and long intervals of uninterrupted observations, will enable asteroseismology of solar-type and red-giant stars. Here we develop a simple test to estimate the detectability of solar-like oscillations in TESS photometry of any given star. Based on an all-sky stellar and planetary synthetic population, we go on to predict the asteroseismic yield of the TESS mission, placing emphasis on the yield of exoplanet-host stars for which we expect to detect solar-like oscillations. This is done for both the target stars (observed at a 2-minute cadence) and the full-frame-image stars (observed at a 30-minute cadence). A similar exercise is also conducted based on a compilation of known host stars. We predict that TESS will detect solar-like oscillations in a few dozen target hosts (mainly subgiant stars but also in a smaller number of F dwarfs), in up to 200 low-luminosity red-giant hosts, and in over 100 solar-type and red-giant known hosts, thereby leading to a threefold improvement in the asteroseismic yield of exoplanet-host stars when compared to Kepler's.
Abstract
Recent analyses of the Gaia data have identified diffuse stellar populations surrounding nearby open clusters. It is important to verify that these “halos,” “tails,” and “strings” are of ...similar ages and compositions as stars in the denser part of the cluster. We present an analysis of NGC 2516 (≈150 Myr), which has a classical tidal radius of 10 pc and an apparent halo of stars spanning 500 pc (20° on-sky). Combining photometry from Gaia, rotation periods from TESS, and lithium measurements from Gaia-ESO and GALAH, we find that the halo of NGC 2516 is the same age as the cluster’s core. Two-thirds of kinematically selected halo members out to 250 pc from the cluster center have rotation periods consistent with a gyrochronological age of 150 Myr. A comparison sample of field stars shows no such trend. The lithium abundances of stars in the halo are higher than in the field and correlated with the stellar rotation rate and binarity fraction, as has been noted in other young open clusters. Broadly speaking, this work supports a new paradigm wherein the halos of open clusters are often more populous than their cores. We highlight implications for spectroscopic survey targeting, open cluster dispersal, and planet searches around young stars.
DS Tuc Ab is a Neptune-sized planet that orbits around a G star in the 45 Myr old Tucana-Horologium moving group. Here, we report the measurement of the sky-projected angle between the stellar spin ...axis and the planet's orbital axis, based on the observation of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect during three separate planetary transits. The orbit appears to be well aligned with the equator of the host star, with a projected obliquity of . In addition to the distortions in the stellar absorption lines due to the transiting planet, we observed variations that we attribute to large starspots, with angular sizes of tens of degrees. The technique that we have developed for simultaneous modeling of starspots and the planet-induced distortions may be useful in other observations of planets around active stars.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is providing precise time-series photometry for most star clusters in the solar neighborhood. Using the TESS images, we have begun a Cluster ...Difference Imaging Photometric Survey, in which we are focusing both on stars that are candidate cluster members and on stars that show indications of youth. Our aims are to discover giant transiting planets with known ages, and to provide light curves suitable for studies in stellar astrophysics. For this work, we made 159,343 light curves of candidate young stars, across 596 distinct clusters. Each light curve represents between 20 and 25 days of observations of a star brighter than GRp = 16, with 30-minute sampling. We describe the image-subtraction and time-series analysis techniques we used to create the light curves, which have noise properties that agree with theoretical expectations. We also comment on the possible utility of the light-curve sample for studies of stellar rotation evolution and binary eccentricity damping. The light curves, which cover about one-sixth of the galactic plane, are available at archive.stsci.edu/hlsp/cdips.
WASP-4 Is Accelerating toward the Earth Bouma, L. G.; Winn, J. N.; Howard, A. W. ...
Astrophysical journal. Letters,
04/2020, Letnik:
893, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The orbital period of the hot Jupiter WASP-4b appears to be decreasing at a rate of −8.64 1.26 ms yr−1, based on transit-timing measurements spanning 12 yr. Proposed explanations for the period ...change include tidal orbital decay, apsidal precession, and acceleration of the system along the line of sight. To investigate further, we performed new radial-velocity measurements and speckle imaging of WASP-4. The radial-velocity data show that the system is accelerating toward the Sun at a rate of −0.0422 0.0028 m s−1 day−1. The associated Doppler effect should cause the apparent period to shrink at a rate of −5.94 0.39 ms yr−1, comparable to the observed rate. Thus, the observed change in the transit period is mostly or entirely produced by the line-of-sight acceleration of the system. This acceleration is probably caused by a wide-orbiting companion of mass 10-300 MJup and orbital distance 10-100 au, based on the magnitude of the radial-velocity trend and the nondetection of any companion in the speckle images. We expect that the orbital periods of one out of three hot Jupiters will change at rates similar to WASP-4b, based on the hot-Jupiter companion statistics of Knutson et al. Continued radial-velocity monitoring of hot Jupiters is therefore essential to distinguish the effects of tidal orbital decay or apsidal precession from line-of-sight acceleration.
Context.
Small planets located at the lower mode of the bimodal radius distribution are generally assumed to be composed of iron and silicates in a proportion similar to that of the Earth. However, ...recent discoveries are revealing a new group of low-density planets that are inconsistent with that description.
Aims.
We intend to confirm and characterize the TESS planet candidate TOI-244.01, which orbits the bright (
K
= 7.97 mag), nearby (
d
= 22 pc), and early-type (M2.5 V) M-dwarf star GJ 1018 with an orbital period of 7.4 days.
Methods.
We used Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to model 57 precise radial velocity measurements acquired by the ESPRESSO spectrograph together with TESS photometry and complementary HARPS data. Our model includes a planetary component and Gaussian processes aimed at modeling the correlated stellar and instrumental noise.
Results.
We find TOI-244 b to be a super-Earth with a radius of
R
p
= 1.52 ± 0.12
R
⊕
and a mass of
M
p
= 2.68 ± 0.30
M
⊕
. These values correspond to a density of
ρ
= 4.2 ± 1.1 g cm
−3
, which is below what would be expected for an Earth-like composition. We find that atmospheric loss processes may have been efficient to remove a potential primordial hydrogen envelope, but high mean molecular weight volatiles such as water could have been retained. Our internal structure modeling suggests that TOI-244 b has a 479
−96
+128
km thick hydrosphere over a 1.17 ± 0.09
R
⊕
solid structure composed of a Fe-rich core and a silicate-dominated mantle compatible with that of the Earth. On a population level, we find two tentative trends in the density-metallicity and density-insolation parameter space for the low-density super-Earths, which may hint at their composition.
Conclusions.
With a 8% precision in radius and 12% precision in mass, TOI-244 b is among the most precisely characterized super-Earths, which, together with the likely presence of an extended hydrosphere, makes it a key target for atmospheric observations.
We report the discovery of HATS-71b, a transiting gas giant planet on a day orbit around a mag M3 dwarf star. HATS-71 is the coolest M dwarf star known to host a hot Jupiter. The loss of light during ...transits is 4.7%, more than in any other confirmed transiting planet system. The planet was identified as a candidate by the ground-based HATSouth transit survey. It was confirmed using ground-based photometry, spectroscopy, and imaging, as well as space-based photometry from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission (TIC 234523599). Combining all of these data, and utilizing Gaia DR2, we find that the planet has a radius of and mass of (95% confidence upper limit of ), while the star has a mass of and a radius of .
ABSTRACT The angle between a planet's orbital axis and the spin axis of its parent star is an important diagnostic of planet formation, migration, and tidal evolution. We seek empirical constraints ...on by measuring the stellar inclination is via asteroseismology for an ensemble of 25 solar-type hosts observed with NASA's Kepler satellite. Our results for is are consistent with alignment at the 2 level for all stars in the sample, meaning that the system surrounding the red-giant star Kepler-56 remains as the only unambiguous misaligned multiple-planet system detected to date. The availability of a measurement of the projected spin-orbit angle λ for two of the systems allows us to estimate . We find that the orbit of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-7b is likely to be retrograde ( ), whereas that of Kepler-25c seems to be well aligned with the stellar spin axis ( ). While the latter result is in apparent contradiction with a statement made previously in the literature that the multi-transiting system Kepler-25 is misaligned, we show that the results are consistent, given the large associated uncertainties. Finally, we perform a hierarchical Bayesian analysis based on the asteroseismic sample in order to recover the underlying distribution of . The ensemble analysis suggests that the directions of the stellar spin and planetary orbital axes are correlated, as conveyed by a tendency of the host stars to display large values of inclination.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) provides a continuous suite of new planet candidates that need confirmation and precise mass determination from ground-based observatories. This is ...the case for the G-type star TOI-1710, which is known to host a transiting sub-Saturn planet (Mp = 28.3 ± 4.7 M⊕) in a long-period orbit (P = 24.28 days). Here we combine archival SOPHIE and new and archival HARPS-N radial velocity data with newly available TESS data to refine the planetary parameters of the system and derive a new mass measurement for the transiting planet, taking into account the impact of the stellar activity on the mass measurement. We report for TOI-1710b a radius of Rp = 5.15 ± 0.12 R⊕, a mass of Mp = 18.4 ± 4.5 M⊕, and a mean bulk density of ρp = 0.73 ± 0.18 g cm−3, which are consistent at 1.2σ, 1.5σ, and 0.7σ, respectively, with previous measurements. Although there is not a significant difference in the final mass measurement, we needed to add a Gaussian process component to successfully fit the radial velocity dataset. This work illustrates that adding more measurements does not necessarily imply a better mass determination in terms of precision, even though they contribute to increasing our full understanding of the system. Furthermore, TOI-1710b joins an intriguing class of planets with radii in the range 4–8 R⊕ that have no counterparts in the Solar System. A large gaseous envelope and a bright host star make TOI-1710b a very suitable candidate for follow-up atmospheric characterization.
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