Despite the existence of many short-period hot Jupiters, there is not one hot Neptune with an orbital period less than 2.5 days. Here, we discuss a cluster analysis of the currently known 106 ...transiting exoplanets to investigate a possible explanation for this observation. We find two distinct clusters in the mass-density space, one with hot Jupiters with a wide range of orbital periods (0.8-114 days) and a narrow range of planet radii (1.2 ? 0.2 RJ ) and another one with a mixture of super-Earths, hot Neptunes, and hot Jupiters, exhibiting a surprisingly narrow period distribution (3.7 ? 0.8 days). These two clusters follow strikingly different distributions in the period-radius parameter plane. The branch of sub-Jupiter mass exoplanets is censored by the orbital period at the large-radius end: no planets with mass between 0.02 and 0.8 MJ or with radius between 0.25 and 1.0 RJ are known with P orb < 2.5 days. This clustering is not predicted by current theories of planet formation and evolution, which we also review briefly.
The PLATO 2.0 mission Rauer, H.; Catala, C.; Benz, W. ...
Experimental astronomy,
11/2014, Letnik:
38, Številka:
1-2
Journal Article, Web Resource
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
PLATO 2.0 has recently been selected for ESA’s M3 launch opportunity (2022/24). Providing accurate key planet parameters (radius, mass, density and age) in statistical numbers, it addresses ...fundamental questions such as: How do planetary systems form and evolve? Are there other systems with planets like ours, including potentially habitable planets? The PLATO 2.0 instrument consists of 34 small aperture telescopes (32 with 25 s readout cadence and 2 with 2.5 s candence) providing a wide field-of-view (2232 deg
2
) and a large photometric magnitude range (4–16 mag). It focusses on bright (4–11 mag) stars in wide fields to detect and characterize planets down to Earth-size by photometric transits, whose masses can then be determined by ground-based radial-velocity follow-up measurements. Asteroseismology will be performed for these bright stars to obtain highly accurate stellar parameters, including masses and ages. The combination of bright targets and asteroseismology results in high accuracy for the bulk planet parameters: 2 %, 4–10 % and 10 % for planet radii, masses and ages, respectively. The planned baseline observing strategy includes two long pointings (2–3 years) to detect and bulk characterize planets reaching into the habitable zone (HZ) of solar-like stars and an additional step-and-stare phase to cover in total about 50 % of the sky. PLATO 2.0 will observe up to 1,000,000 stars and detect and characterize hundreds of small planets, and thousands of planets in the Neptune to gas giant regime out to the HZ. It will therefore provide the first large-scale catalogue of bulk characterized planets with accurate radii, masses, mean densities and ages. This catalogue will include terrestrial planets at intermediate orbital distances, where surface temperatures are moderate. Coverage of this parameter range with statistical numbers of bulk characterized planets is unique to PLATO 2.0. The PLATO 2.0 catalogue allows us to e.g.: - complete our knowledge of planet diversity for low-mass objects, - correlate the planet mean density-orbital distance distribution with predictions from planet formation theories,- constrain the influence of planet migration and scattering on the architecture of multiple systems, and - specify how planet and system parameters change with host star characteristics, such as type, metallicity and age. The catalogue will allow us to study planets and planetary systems at different evolutionary phases. It will further provide a census for small, low-mass planets. This will serve to identify objects which retained their primordial hydrogen atmosphere and in general the typical characteristics of planets in such low-mass, low-density range. Planets detected by PLATO 2.0 will orbit bright stars and many of them will be targets for future atmosphere spectroscopy exploring their atmosphere. Furthermore, the mission has the potential to detect exomoons, planetary rings, binary and Trojan planets. The planetary science possible with PLATO 2.0 is complemented by its impact on stellar and galactic science via asteroseismology as well as light curves of all kinds of variable stars, together with observations of stellar clusters of different ages. This will allow us to improve stellar models and study stellar activity. A large number of well-known ages from red giant stars will probe the structure and evolution of our Galaxy. Asteroseismic ages of bright stars for different phases of stellar evolution allow calibrating stellar age-rotation relationships. Together with the results of ESA’s Gaia mission, the results of PLATO 2.0 will provide a huge legacy to planetary, stellar and galactic science.
The CHEOPS space mission dedicated to exoplanet follow-up was launched in December 2019, equipped with the capacity to perform photometric measurements at the 20 ppm level. As CHEOPS carries out its ...observations in a broad optical passband, it can provide insights into the reflected light from exoplanets and constrain the short-wavelength thermal emission for the hottest of planets by observing occultations and phase curves. Here, we report the first CHEOPS observation of an occultation, namely, that of the hot Jupiter WASP-189 b, a
M
P
≈ 2
M
J
planet orbiting an A-type star. We detected the occultation of WASP-189 b at high significance in individual measurements and derived an occultation depth of dF = 87.9 ± 4.3 ppm based on four occultations. We compared these measurements to model predictions and we find that they are consistent with an unreflective atmosphere heated to a temperature of 3435 ± 27 K, when assuming inefficient heat redistribution. Furthermore, we present two transits of WASP-189 b observed by CHEOPS. These transits have an asymmetric shape that we attribute to gravity darkening of the host star caused by its high rotation rate. We used these measurements to refine the planetary parameters, finding a ~25% deeper transit compared to the discovery paper and updating the radius of WASP-189 b to 1.619 ± 0.021
R
J
. We further measured the projected orbital obliquity to be
λ
= 86.4
−4.4
+2.9°
, a value that is in good agreement with a previous measurement from spectroscopic observations, and derived a true obliquity of Ψ = 85.4 ± 4.3°. Finally, we provide reference values for the photometric precision attained by the CHEOPS satellite: for the
V
= 6.6 mag star, and using a 1-h binning, we obtain a residual RMS between 10 and 17 ppm on the individual light curves, and 5.7 ppm when combining the four visits.
A significant fraction of main-sequence stars are encircled by dusty debris discs, where the short-lived dust particles are replenished through collisions between planetesimals. Most destructive ...collisions occur when the orbits of smaller bodies are dynamically stirred up, either by the gravitational effect of locally formed Pluto-sized planetesimals (self-stirring scenario), or via secular perturbation caused by an inner giant planet (planetary stirring). The relative importance of these scenarios in debris systems is unknown. Here, we present new Herschel Space Observatory imagery of 11 discs selected from the most massive and extended known debris systems. All discs were found to be extended at far-infrared wavelengths, five of them being resolved for the first time. We evaluated the feasibility of the self-stirring scenario by comparing the measured disc sizes with the predictions of the model calculated for the ages of our targets. We concluded that the self-stirring explanation works for seven discs. However, in four cases, the predicted pace of outward propagation of the stirring front, assuming reasonable initial disc masses, was far too low to explain the radial extent of the cold dust. Therefore, for HD 9672, HD 16743, HD 21997, and HD 95086, another explanation is needed. We performed a similar analysis for β Pic and HR 8799, reaching the same conclusion. We argue that planetary stirring is a promising possibility to explain the disc properties in these systems. In HR 8799 and HD 95086, we may already know the potential perturber, since their known outer giant planets could be responsible for the stirring process. Interestingly, the discs around HD 9672, HD 21997, and β Pic are also unique in harbouring detectable amount of molecular CO gas. Our study demonstrates that among the largest and most massive debris discs self-stirring may not be the only active scenario, and potentially planetary stirring is responsible for destructive collisions and debris dust production in a number of systems.
We present a detailed analysis of the bright Cepheid-type variable star V1154 Cygni using 4 yr of continuous observations by the Kepler space telescope. We detected 28 frequencies using the standard ...Fourier transform method. We identified modulation of the main pulsation frequency and its harmonics with a period of ~159 d. This modulation is also present in the Fourier parameters of the light curve and the O - C diagram. We detected another modulation with a period of about 1160 d. The star also shows significant power in the low-frequency region that we identified as granulation noise. The effective time-scale of the granulation agrees with the extrapolated scalings of red giant stars. Non-detection of solar-like oscillations indicates that the pulsation inhibits other oscillations. We obtained new radial velocity observations that are in a perfect agreement with previous years data, suggesting that there is no high-mass star companion of V1154 Cygni. Finally, we discuss the possible origin of the detected frequency modulations.
Survival of Exomoons Around Exoplanets Dobos, V.; Charnoz, S.; Pál, A. ...
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific,
09/2021, Letnik:
133, Številka:
1027
Journal Article
Context.
Correlated noise in exoplanet light curves, such as noise from stellar activity, convection noise, and instrumental noise, distorts the exoplanet transit light curves and leads to biases in ...the best-fit transit parameters. An optimal fitting algorithm can provide stability against the presence of correlated noises and lead to statistically consistent results, namely, the actual biases are usually within the error interval. This is not automatically satisfied by most of the algorithms in everyday use and the testing of the algorithms is necessary.
Aims.
In this paper, we describe a bootstrapping-like test to handle with the general case and we apply it to the wavelet-based Transit and Light Curve Modeller (TLCM) algorithm, testing it for the stability against the correlated noise. We compare and contrast the results with regard to the FITSH algorithm, which is based on an assumption of white noise.
Methods.
We simulated transit light curves with previously known parameters in the presence of a correlated noise model generated by an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) process. Then we solved the simulated observations and examined the resulting parameters and error intervals.
Results.
We have found that the assumption of FITSH, namely, that only white noise is present, has led to inconsistencies in the results: the distribution of best-fit parameters is then broader than the determined error intervals by a factor of 3–6. On the other hand, the wavelet-based TLCM algorithm handles the correlated noise properly, leading to both properly determined parameter and error intervals that are perfectly consistent with the actual biases.
Context. Because the second reaction wheel failed, a new mission was conceived for the otherwise healthy Kepler space telescope. In the course of the K2 mission, the telescope is staring at the plane ...of the Ecliptic. Thousands of solar system bodies therefore cross the K2 fields and usually cause additional noise in the highly accurate photometric data. Aims. We here follow the principle that some person’s noise is another person’s signal and investigate the possibility of deriving continuous asteroid light curves. This is the first such endeavor. In general, we are interested in the photometric precision that the K2 mission can deliver on moving solar system bodies. In particular, we investigate space photometric optical light curves of main-belt asteroids. Methods. We studied the K2 superstamps that cover the fields of M35, and Neptune together with Nereid, which were observed in the long-cadence mode (29.4 min sampling). Asteroid light curves were generated by applying elongated apertures. We used the Lomb-Scargle method to determine periodicities that are due to rotation. Results. We derived K2 light curves of 924 main-belt asteroids in the M35 field and 96 in the path of Neptune and Nereid. The light curves are quasi-continuous and several days long. K2 observations are sensitive to longer rotational periods than typical ground-based surveys. Rotational periods are derived for 26 main-belt asteroids for the first time. The asteroid sample is dominated by faint objects (>20 mag). Owing to the faintness of the asteroids and the high density of stars in the M35 field, only 4.0% of the asteroids with at least 12 data points show clear periodicities or trends that signal a long rotational period, as opposed to 15.9% in the less crowded Neptune field. We found that the duty cycle of the observations had to reach ~60% to successfully recover rotational periods.
Aims. The transiting planet WASP-12 b was identified as a potential target for transit-timing studies because a departure from a linear ephemeris has been reported in the literature. Such deviations ...could be caused by an additional planet in the system. We attempt to confirm the claimed variations in transit timing and interpret their origin. Methods. We organised a multi-site campaign to observe transits by WASP-12 b in three observing seasons, using 0.5–2.6-metre telescopes. Results. We obtained 61 transit light curves, many of them with sub-millimagnitude precision. The simultaneous analysis of the best-quality datasets allowed us to obtain refined system parameters, which agree with values reported in previous studies. The residuals versus a linear ephemeris reveal a possible periodic signal that may be approximated by a sinusoid with an amplitude of 0.00068 ± 0.00013 d and period of 500 ± 20 orbital periods of WASP-12 b. The joint analysis of timing data and published radial velocity measurements results in a two-planet model that explains observations better than do single-planet scenarios. We hypothesise that WASP-12 b might not be the only planet in the system, and there might be the additional 0.1 MJup body on a 3.6-d eccentric orbit. A dynamical analysis indicates that the proposed two-planet system is stable on long timescales.
Context. Tidal orbital decay is suspected to occur for hot Jupiters in particular, with the only observationally confirmed case of this being WASP-12b. By examining this effect, information on the ...properties of the host star can be obtained using the so-called stellar modified tidal quality factor Q * ′ , which describes the efficiency with which the kinetic energy of the planet is dissipated within the star. This can provide information about the interior of the star.
Aims. In this study, we aim to improve constraints on the tidal decay of the KELT-9, KELT-16, and WASP-4 systems in order to find evidence for or against the presence of tidal orbital decay. With this, we want to constrain the Q * ′ value for each star. In addition, we aim to test the existence of the transit timing variations (TTVs) in the HD 97658 system, which previously favoured a quadratic trend with increasing orbital period.
Methods. Making use of newly acquired photometric observations from CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOplanet Satellite) and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), combined with archival transit and occultation data, we use Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms to fit three models to the data, namely a constant-period model, an orbital-decay model, and an apsidal-precession model.
Results. We find that the KELT-9 system is best described by an apsidal-precession model for now, with an orbital decay trend at over 2 σ being a possible solution as well. A Keplerian orbit model with a constant orbital period provides the best fit to the transit timings of KELT-16 b because of the scatter and scale of their error bars. The WASP-4 system is best represented by an orbital decay model at a 5 σ significance, although apsidal precession cannot be ruled out with the present data. For HD 97658 b, using recently acquired transit observations, we find no conclusive evidence for a previously suspected strong quadratic trend in the data.
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