No Arabic abstract
We report on the confirmation that the candidate transits observed for the star EPIC 211525389 are due to a short-period Neptune-sized planet. The host star, located in K2 campaign field 5, is a metal-rich ([Fe/H] = 0.26$pm$0.05) G-dwarf (T_eff = 5430$pm$70 K and log g = 4.48$pm$0.09), based on observations with the High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) on the Subaru 8.2m telescope. High-spatial resolution AO imaging with HiCIAO on the Subaru telescope excludes faint companions near the host star, and the false positive probability of this target is found to be <$10^{-6}$ using the open source vespa code. A joint analysis of transit light curves from K2 and additional ground-based multi-color transit photometry with MuSCAT on the Okayama 1.88m telescope gives the orbital period of P = 8.266902$pm$0.000070 days and consistent transit depths of $R_p/R_star sim 0.035$ or $(R_p/R_star)^2 sim 0.0012$. The transit depth corresponds to a planetary radius of $R_p = 3.59_{-0.39}^{+0.44} R_{oplus}$, indicating that EPIC 211525389 b is a short-period Neptune-sized planet. Radial velocities of the host star, obtained with the Subaru HDS, lead to a 3sigma upper limit of 90 $M_{oplus} (0.00027 M_{odot})$ on the mass of EPIC 211525389 b, confirming its planetary nature. We expect this planet, newly named K2-105 b, to be the subject of future studies to characterize its mass, atmosphere, spin-orbit (mis)alignment, as well as investigate the possibility of additional planets in the system.
We validate a $R_p=2.32pm 0.24R_oplus$ planet on a close-in orbit ($P=2.260455pm 0.000041$ days) around K2-28 (EPIC 206318379), a metal-rich M4-type dwarf in the Campaign 3 field of the K2 mission. Our follow-up observations included multi-band transit observations from the optical to the near infrared, low-resolution spectroscopy, and high-resolution adaptive-optics (AO) imaging. We perform a global fit to all the observed transits using a Gaussian process-based method and show that the transit depths in all passbands adopted for the ground-based transit follow-ups ($r_2, z_mathrm{s,2}, J, H, K_mathrm{s}$) are within $sim 2sigma$ of the K2 value. Based on a model of the background stellar population and the absence of nearby sources in our AO imaging, we estimate the probability that a background eclipsing binary could cause a false positive to be $< 2times 10^{-5}$. We also show that K2-28 cannot have a physically associated companion of stellar type later than M4, based on the measurement of almost identical transit depths in multiple passbands. There is a low probability for a M4 dwarf companion ($approx 0.072_{-0.04}^{+0.02}$), but even if this were the case, the size of K2-28b falls within the planetary regime. K2-28b has the same radius (within $1sigma$) and experiences a similar irradiation from its host star as the well-studied GJ~1214b. Given the relative brightness of K2-28 in the near infrared ($m_mathrm{Kep}=14.85$ mag and $m_H=11.03$ mag) and relatively deep transit ($0.6-0.7%$), a comparison between the atmospheric properties of these two planets with future observations would be especially interesting.
We report on the discovery and characterization of the transiting planet K2-39b (EPIC 206247743b). With an orbital period of 4.6 days, it is the shortest-period planet orbiting a subgiant star known to date. Such planets are rare, with only a handful of known cases. The reason for this is poorly understood, but may reflect differences in planet occurrence around the relatively high-mass stars that have been surveyed, or may be the result of tidal destruction of such planets. K2-39 is an evolved star with a spectroscopically derived stellar radius and mass of $3.88^{+0.48}_{-0.42}~mathrm{R_odot}$ and $1.53^{+0.13}_{-0.12}~mathrm{M_odot}$, respectively, and a very close-in transiting planet, with $a/R_star = 3.4$. Radial velocity (RV) follow-up using the HARPS, FIES and PFS instruments leads to a planetary mass of $50.3^{+9.7}_{-9.4}~mathrm{M_oplus}$. In combination with a radius measurement of $8.3 pm 1.1~mathrm{R_oplus}$, this results in a mean planetary density of $0.50^{+0.29}_{-0.17}$ g~cm$^{-3}$. We furthermore discover a long-term RV trend, which may be caused by a long-period planet or stellar companion. Because K2-39b has a short orbital period, its existence makes it seem unlikely that tidal destruction is wholly responsible for the differences in planet populations around subgiant and main-sequence stars. Future monitoring of the transits of this system may enable the detection of period decay and constrain the tidal dissipation rates of subgiant stars.
We present the discovery of a transiting exoplanet candidate in the K2 Field-1 with an orbital period of 9.1457 hr: K2-22b. The highly variable transit depths, ranging from $sim$0% to 1.3%, are suggestive of a planet that is disintegrating via the emission of dusty effluents. We characterize the host star as an M-dwarf with $T_{rm eff} simeq 3800$ K. We have obtained ground-based transit measurements with several 1-m class telescopes and with the GTC. These observations (1) improve the transit ephemeris; (2) confirm the variable nature of the transit depths; (3) indicate variations in the transit shapes; and (4) demonstrate clearly that at least on one occasion the transit depths were significantly wavelength dependent. The latter three effects tend to indicate extinction of starlight by dust rather than by any combination of solid bodies. The K2 observations yield a folded light curve with lower time resolution but with substantially better statistical precision compared with the ground-based observations. We detect a significant bump just after the transit egress, and a less significant bump just prior to transit ingress. We interpret these bumps in the context of a planet that is not only likely streaming a dust tail behind it, but also has a more prominent leading dust trail that precedes it. This effect is modeled in terms of dust grains that can escape to beyond the planets Hill sphere and effectively undergo `Roche lobe overflow, even though the planets surface is likely underfilling its Roche lobe by a factor of 2.
We report the discovery from K2 of two transiting hot Jupiter systems. K2-295 (observed in Campaign 8) is a K5 dwarf which hosts a planet slightly smaller than Jupiter, orbiting with a period of 4.0 d. We have made an independent discovery of K2-237 b (Campaign 11), which orbits an F6 dwarf every 2.2 d and has an inflated radius 50 - 60 per cent larger than that of Jupiter. We use high-precision radial velocity measurements, obtained using the HARPS and FIES spectrographs, to measure the planetary masses. We find that K2-295 b has a similar mass to Saturn, while K2-237 b is a little more massive than Jupiter.
We report the discovery of K2-287b, a Saturn mass planet orbiting a G-dwarf with a period of $P approx 15$ days. First uncovered as a candidate using K2 campaign 15 data, follow-up photometry and spectroscopy were used to determine a mass of $M_P = 0.317 pm 0.026$ $M_J$, radius $R_P = 0.833 pm 0.013$ $R_J$, period $P = 14.893291 pm 0.000025$ days and eccentricity $e = 0.476 pm 0.026$. The host star is a metal-rich $V=11.410 pm 0.129$ mag G dwarf for which we estimate a mass $M_* = 1.056$ $M_odot$, radius $R_* = 1.07 pm 0.01$ $R_odot$, metallicity [Fe/H] = $0.20 pm 0.05$ and $T_{eff} = 5673 pm 75$ K. This warm eccentric planet with a time-averaged equilibrium temperature of $T_{eq} approx 800$ K adds to the small sample of giant planets orbiting nearby stars whose structure is not expected to be affected by stellar irradiation. Follow-up studies on the K2-287 system could help in constraining theories of migration of planets in close-in orbits.