Context.
Most of the currently known planets are small worlds with radii between that of the Earth and that of Neptune. The characterization of planets in this regime shows a large diversity in ...compositions and system architectures, with distributions hinting at a multitude of formation and evolution scenarios. However, many planetary populations, such as high-density planets, are significantly under-sampled, limiting our understanding of planet formation and evolution.
Aims.
NCORES is a large observing program conducted on the HARPS high-resolution spectrograph that aims to confirm the planetary status and to measure the masses of small transiting planetary candidates detected by transit photometry surveys in order to constrain their internal composition.
Methods.
Using photometry from the K2 satellite and radial velocities measured with the HARPS and CORALIE spectrographs, we searched for planets around the bright (
V
mag
= 10) and slightly evolved Sun-like star HD 137496.
Results.
We precisely estimated the stellar parameters,
M
*
= 1.035 ± 0.022
M
⊙
,
R
*
= 1.587 ± 0.028
R
⊙
,
T
eff
= 5799 ± 61 K, together with the chemical composition (e.g. Fe/H = −0.027 ± 0.040 dex) of the slightly evolved star. We detect two planets orbiting HD 137496. The inner planet, HD 137496 b, is a super-Mercury (an Earth-sized planet with the density of Mercury) with a mass of
M
b
= 4.04 ± 0.55
M
⊕
, a radius of R
b
= 1.31
−0.05
+0.06
R
⊕
, and a density of ρ
b
= 10.49
−1.82
+2.08
g cm
-3
. With an interior modeling analysis, we find that the planet is composed mainly of iron, with the core representing over 70% of the planet’s mass (M
core
/ M
total
= 0.73
−0.12
+0.11
). The outer planet, HD 137496 c, is an eccentric (
e
= 0.477 ± 0.004), long period (
P
= 479.9
−1.1
+1.0
days) giant planet (
M
c
sin
i
c
= 7.66 ± 0.11
M
Jup
) for which we do not detect a transit.
Conclusions.
HD 137496 b is one of the few super-Mercuries detected to date. The accurate characterization reported here enhances its role as a key target to better understand the formation and evolution of planetary systems. The detection of an eccentric long period giant companion also reinforces the link between the presence of small transiting inner planets and long period gas giants.
ABSTRACT
We present the discovery and characterization of two transiting planets observed by TESS in the light curves of the young and bright (V = 9.67) star HD73583 (TOI-560). We perform an ...intensive spectroscopic and photometric space- and ground-based follow-up in order to confirm and characterize the system. We found that HD73583 is a young (∼500 Myr) active star with a rotational period of 12.08 ± 0.11 d, and a mass and radius of 0.73 ± 0.02 M⊙ and 0.65 ± 0.02 R⊙, respectively. HD 73583 b (Pb = $6.3980420 _{ - 0.0000062 } ^ { + 0.0000067 }$ d) has a mass and radius of $10.2 _{ - 3.1 } ^ { + 3.4 }$ M⊕ and 2.79 ± 0.10 R⊕, respectively, which gives a density of $2.58 _{ - 0.81 } ^ { + 0.95 }$ ${\rm g\, cm^{-3}}$. HD 73583 c (Pc = $18.87974 _{ - 0.00074 } ^ { + 0.00086 }$ d) has a mass and radius of $9.7 _{ - 1.7 } ^ { + 1.8 }$ M⊕ and $2.39 _{ - 0.09 } ^ { + 0.10 }$ R⊕, respectively, which translates to a density of $3.88 _{ - 0.80 } ^ { + 0.91 }$ ${\rm g\, cm^{-3}}$. Both planets are consistent with worlds made of a solid core surrounded by a volatile envelope. Because of their youth and host star brightness, they both are excellent candidates to perform transmission spectroscopy studies. We expect ongoing atmospheric mass-loss for both planets caused by stellar irradiation. We estimate that the detection of evaporating signatures on H and He would be challenging, but doable with present and future instruments.
We present the discovery and characterization of two transiting planets observed by TESS in the light curves of the young and bright (V = 9.67) star HD73583 (TOI-560). We perform an intensive ...spectroscopic and photometric space- and ground-based follow-up in order to confirm and characterize the system. We found that HD73583 is a young (similar to 500 Myr) active star with a rotational period of 12.08 +/- 0.11 d, and a mass and radius of 0.73 +/- 0.02 M-circle dot and 0.65 +/- 0.02 R-circle dot, respectively. HD 73583 b (P-b = 6.3980420(-0.0000062)(+0.0000067 )d) has a mass and radius of 10.2(-3.1)(+3.4) M-circle plus and 2.79 +/- 0.10 R-circle plus, respectively, which gives a density of 2.58(-0.81)(+0.95) g cm(-3). HD 73583 c (P-c = 18.87974(-0.00074)(+0.00086) d) has a mass and radius of 9.7(-1.7)(+1.8) M-circle plus and 2.39(-0.09)(+0.10) R-circle plus, respectively, which translates to a density of 3.88(-0.80)(+0.91) g cm(-3). Both planets are consistent with worlds made of a solid core surrounded by a volatile envelope. Because of their youth and host star brightness, they both are excellent candidates to perform transmission spectroscopy studies. We expect ongoing atmospheric mass-loss for both planets caused by stellar irradiation. We estimate that the detection of evaporating signatures on H and He would be challenging, but doable with present and future instruments.
ABSTRACT
We present the discovery of two exoplanets transiting TOI-836 (TIC 440887364) using data from TESS Sector 11 and Sector 38. TOI-836 is a bright (T = 8.5 mag), high proper motion (∼200 mas ...yr−1), low metallicity (Fe/H≈−0.28) K-dwarf with a mass of 0.68 ± 0.05 M⊙ and a radius of 0.67 ± 0.01 R⊙. We obtain photometric follow-up observations with a variety of facilities, and we use these data sets to determine that the inner planet, TOI-836 b, is a 1.70 ± 0.07 R⊕ super-Earth in a 3.82-d orbit, placing it directly within the so-called ‘radius valley’. The outer planet, TOI-836 c, is a 2.59 ± 0.09 R⊕ mini-Neptune in an 8.60-d orbit. Radial velocity measurements reveal that TOI-836 b has a mass of 4.5 ± 0.9 M⊕, while TOI-836 c has a mass of 9.6 ± 2.6 M⊕. Photometric observations show Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) on the order of 20 min for TOI-836 c, although there are no detectable TTVs for TOI-836 b. The TTVs of planet TOI-836 c may be caused by an undetected exterior planet.
ABSTRACT
To date, thousands of planets have been discovered, but there are regions of the orbital parameter space that are still bare. An example is the short period and intermediate mass/radius ...space known as the ‘Neptunian desert’, where planets should be easy to find but discoveries remain few. This suggests unusual formation and evolution processes are responsible for the planets residing here. We present the discovery of TOI-332 b, a planet with an ultra-short period of 0.78 d that sits firmly within the desert. It orbits a K0 dwarf with an effective temperature of 5251 ± 71 K. TOI-332 b has a radius of $3.20^{+0.16}_{-0.12}$ R⊕, smaller than that of Neptune, but an unusually large mass of 57.2 ± 1.6 M⊕. It has one of the highest densities of any Neptune-sized planet discovered thus far at $9.6^{+1.1}_{-1.3}$ g cm−3. A 4-layer internal structure model indicates it likely has a negligible hydrogen-helium envelope, something only found for a small handful of planets this massive, and so TOI-332 b presents an interesting challenge to planetary formation theories. We find that photoevaporation cannot account for the mass-loss required to strip this planet of the Jupiter-like envelope it would have been expected to accrete. We need to look towards other scenarios, such as high-eccentricity migration, giant impacts, or gap opening in the protoplanetary disc, to try and explain this unusual discovery.
The number of super-Earth and mini-Neptune planet discoveries has increased significantly in the last two decades thanks to transit and radial velocity (RV) surveys. When it is possible to apply both ...techniques, we can characterise the internal composition of exoplanets, which in turn provides unique insights on their architecture, formation and evolution. We performed a combined photometric and RV analysis of TOI-238 (TYC 6398-132-1), which has one short-orbit super-Earth planet candidate announced by NASA’s TESS team. We aim to confirm its planetary nature using radial velocities taken with the ESPRESSO and HARPS spectrographs, to measure its mass, and to detect the presence of other possible planetary companions. We carried out a joint analysis by including Gaussian processes and Keplerian orbits to account for the stellar activity and planetary signals simultaneously. We detected the signal induced by TOI-238 b in the RV time series, and the presence of a second transiting planet, TOI-238 c, whose signal appears in RV and TESS data. TOI-238 b is a planet with a radius of 1.402 −0.086 +0.084 R ⊕ and a mass of 3.40 −0.45 +0.46 M ⊕ . It orbits at a separation of 0.02118 ± 0.00038 au of its host star, with an orbital period of 1.2730988 ± 0.0000029 days, and has an equilibrium temperature of 1311 ± 28 K. TOI-238 c has a radius of 2.18 ± 0.18 R ⊕ and a mass of 6.7 ± 1.1 M ⊕ . It orbits at a separation of 0.0749 ± 0.0013 au of its host star, with an orbital period of 8.465652 ± 0.000031 days, and has an equilibrium temperature of 696 ± 15 K. The mass and radius of planet b are fully consistent with an Earth-like composition, making it a likely rocky super-Earth. Planet c could be a water-rich planet or a rocky planet with a small H-He atmosphere.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission was designed to perform an all-sky search of planets around bright and nearby stars. Here we report the discovery of two sub-Neptunes orbiting ...around TOI 1062 (TIC 299799658), a V = 10.25 G9V star observed in the TESS Sectors 1, 13, 27, and 28. We use precise radial velocity observations from HARPS to confirm and characterize these two planets. TOI 1062b has a radius of 2.265(-0.091,+0.096) Rꚛ, a mass of 10.15 ± 0.8 Mꚛ, and an orbital period of 4.1130 ± 0.0015 days. The second planet is not transiting, has a minimum mass of 9.78(−1.18,+1.26) Mꚛ and is near the 2:1 mean motion resonance with the innermost planet with an orbital period of 7.972(−0.024,+0.018) days. We performed a dynamical analysis to explore the proximity of the system to this resonance, and to attempt further constraining the orbital parameters. The transiting planet has a mean density of 4.85(−0.74,+0.84) g/cu. cm and an analysis of its internal structure reveals that it is expected to have a small volatile envelope accounting for 0.35% of the mass at most. The star’s brightness and the proximity of the inner planet to what is know as the radius gap make it an interesting candidate for transmission spectroscopy, which could further constrain the composition and internal structure of TOI 1062b.
The number of super-Earth and mini-Neptune planet discoveries has increased significantly in the last two decades thanks to transit and radial velocity surveys. When it is possible to apply both ...techniques, we can characterise the internal composition of exoplanets, which in turn provides unique insights on their architecture, formation and evolution. We performed a combined photometric and radial velocity analysis of TOI-238 (TYC 6398-132-1), which has one short-orbit super-Earth planet candidate announced by NASA's TESS team. We aim to confirm its planetary nature using radial velocities taken with the ESPRESSO and HARPS spectrographs, to measure its mass and to detect the presence of other possible planetary companions. We carried out a joint analysis by including Gaussian processes and Keplerian orbits to account for the stellar activity and planetary signals simultaneously. We detected the signal induced by TOI-238 b in the radial velocity time-series, and the presence of a second transiting planet, TOI-238 c, whose signal appears in RV and TESS data. TOI-238 b is a planet with a radius of 1.402\(^{+0.084}_{-0.086}\) R\(_{\oplus}\) and a mass of 3.40\(^{+0.46}_{-0.45}\) M\(_{\oplus}\). It orbits at a separation of 0.02118 \(\pm\) 0.00038 AU of its host star, with an orbital period of 1.2730988 \(\pm\) 0.0000029 days, and has an equilibrium temperature of 1311 \(\pm\) 28 K. TOI-238 c has a radius of 2.18\(\pm\) 0.18 R\(_{\oplus}\) and a mass of 6.7 \(\pm\) 1.1 M\(_{\oplus}\). It orbits at a separation of 0.0749 \(\pm\) 0.0013 AU of its host star, with an orbital period of 8.465652 \(\pm\) 0.000031 days, and has an equilibrium temperature of 696 \(\pm\) 15 K. The mass and radius of planet b are fully consistent with an Earth-like composition, making it likely a rocky super-Earth. Planet c could be a water-rich planet or a rocky planet with a small H-He atmosphere.
Most of the currently known planets are small worlds with radii between that of the Earth and that of Neptune. The characterization of planets in this regime shows a large diversity in compositions ...and system architectures, with distributions hinting at a multitude of formation and evolution scenarios. Using photometry from the K2 satellite and radial velocities measured with the HARPS and CORALIE spectrographs, we searched for planets around the bright and slightly evolved Sun-like star HD 137496. We precisely estimated the stellar parameters, \(M_*\) = 1.035 +/- 0.022 \(M_\odot\), \(R_*\) = 1.587 +/- 0.028 \(R_\odot\), \(T_\text{eff}\) = 5799 +/- 61 K, together with the chemical composition of the slightly evolved star. We detect two planets orbiting HD 137496. The inner planet, HD 137496 b, is a super-Mercury (an Earth-sized planet with the density of Mercury) with a mass of \(M_b\) = 4.04 +/- 0.55 \(M_\oplus\), a radius of \(R_b = 1.31_{-0.05}^{+0.06} R_\oplus,\) and a density of \(\rho_b = 10.49_{-1.82}^{+2.08}\) \(\mathrm{g cm^{-3}}\). With an interior modeling analysis, we find that the planet is composed mainly of iron, with the core representing over 70% of the planet's mass (\(M_{core}/M_{total} = 0.73^{+0.11}_{-0.12}\)). The outer planet, HD 137496 c, is an eccentric (\(e\) = 0.477 +/- 0.004), long period (\(P\) = \(479.9_{-1.1}^{+1.0}\) days) giant planet (\(M_c\sin i_c\) = 7.66 +/- 0.11 \(M_{Jup}\)) for which we do not detect a transit. HD 137496 b is one of the few super-Mercuries detected to date. The accurate characterization reported here enhances its role as a key target to better understand the formation and evolution of planetary systems. The detection of an eccentric long period giant companion also reinforces the link between the presence of small transiting inner planets and long period gas giants.
We present the discovery and characterisation of two transiting planets
observed by \textit{TESS} in the light curves of the young and bright (V=9.67)
star HD73583 (TOI-560). We perform an intensive ...spectroscopic and photometric
space- and ground-based follow-up in order to confirm and characterise the
system. We found that HD73583 is a young ($\sim 500$~Myr) active star with a
rotational period of $12.08 \pm 0.11 $\,d, and a mass and radius of $ 0.73 \pm
0.02 M_\odot$ and $0.65 \pm 0.02 R_\odot$, respectively. HD73583 b
($P_b=6.3980420 _{ - 0.0000062 }^{+0.0000067}$ d) has a mass and radius of
$10.2 _{-3.1}^{+3.4} M_\oplus$ and$2.79 \pm 0.10 R_\oplus$, respectively, that
gives a density of $2.58 _{-0.81}^{ 0.95} {\rm g\,cm^{-3}}$. HD73583 c ($P_c=
18.87974 _{-0.00074 }^{+0.00086}$) has a mass and radius of $9.7_{-1.7} ^
{+1.8} M_\oplus$ and $2.39_{-0.09}^{+0.10} R_\oplus$, respectively, this
translates to a density of $3.88 _{-0.80}^{+0.91} {\rm g\,cm^{-3}}$. Both
planets are consistent with worlds made of a solid core surrounded by a
volatile envelope. Because of their youth and host star brightness, they both
are excellent candidates to perform transmission spectroscopy studies. We
expect ongoing atmospheric mass-loss for both planets caused by stellar
irradiation. We estimate that the detection of evaporating signatures on H and
He would be challenging, but doable with present and future instruments.