No Arabic abstract
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, is currently carrying out an all-sky search for small planets transiting bright stars. In the first year of the TESS survey, steady progress was made in achieving the missions primary science goal of establishing bulk densities for 50 planets smaller than Neptune. During that year, TESSs observations were focused on the southern ecliptic hemisphere, resulting in the discovery of three mini-Neptunes orbiting the star TOI-125, a V=11.0 K0 dwarf. We present intensive HARPS radial velocity observations, yielding precise mass measurements for TOI-125b, TOI-125c and TOI-125d. TOI-125b has an orbital period of 4.65 days, a radius of $2.726 pm 0.075 ~mathrm{R_{rm E}}$, a mass of $ 9.50 pm 0.88 ~mathrm{M_{rm E}}$ and is near the 2:1 mean motion resonance with TOI-125c at 9.15 days. TOI-125c has a similar radius of $2.759 pm 0.10 ~mathrm{R_{rm E}}$ and a mass of $ 6.63 pm 0.99 ~mathrm{M_{rm E}}$, being the puffiest of the three planets. TOI-125d, has an orbital period of 19.98 days and a radius of $2.93 pm 0.17~mathrm{R_{rm E}}$ and mass $13.6 pm 1.2 ~mathrm{M_{rm E}}$. For TOI-125b and TOI-125d we find unusual high eccentricities of $0.19pm 0.04$ and $0.17^{+0.08}_{-0.06}$, respectively. Our analysis also provides upper mass limits for the two low-SNR planet candidates in the system; for TOI-125.04 ($R_P=1.36 ~mathrm{R_{rm E}}$, $P=$0.53 days) we find a $2sigma$ upper mass limit of $1.6~mathrm{M_{rm E}}$, whereas TOI-125.05 ( $R_P=4.2^{+2.4}_{-1.4} ~mathrm{R_{rm E}}$, $P=$ 13.28 days) is unlikely a viable planet candidate with upper mass limit $2.7~mathrm{M_{rm E}}$. We discuss the internal structure of the three confirmed planets, as well as dynamical stability and system architecture for this intriguing exoplanet system.
Based on HARPS-N radial velocities (RVs) and TESS photometry, we present a full characterisation of the planetary system orbiting the late G dwarf TOI-561. After the identification of three transiting candidates by TESS, we discovered two additional external planets from RV analysis. RVs cannot confirm the outer TESS transiting candidate, which would also make the system dynamically unstable. We demonstrate that the two transits initially associated with this candidate are instead due to single transits of the two planets discovered using RVs. The four planets orbiting TOI-561 include an ultra-short period (USP) super-Earth (TOI-561 b) with period $P_{rm b} = 0.45$ d, mass $M_{rm b} =1.59 pm 0.36$ M$_oplus$ and radius $R_{rm b}=1.42 pm 0.07$ R$_oplus$, and three mini-Neptunes: TOI-561 c, with $P_{rm c} = 10.78$ d, $M_{rm c} = 5.40 pm 0.98$ M$_oplus$, $R_{rm c}= 2.88 pm 0.09$ R$_oplus$; TOI-561 d, with $P_{rm d} = 25.6$ d, $M_{rm d} = 11.9 pm 1.3$ M$_oplus$, $R_{rm d} = 2.53 pm 0.13$ R$_oplus$; and TOI-561 e, with $P_{rm e} = 77.2$ d, $M_{rm e} = 16.0 pm 2.3$ M$_oplus$, $R_{rm e} = 2.67 pm 0.11$ R$_oplus$. Having a density of $3.0 pm 0.8$ g cm$^{-3}$, TOI-561 b is the lowest density USP planet known to date. Our N-body simulations confirm the stability of the system and predict a strong, anti-correlated, long-term transit time variation signal between planets d and e. The unusual density of the inner super-Earth and the dynamical interactions between the outer planets make TOI-561 an interesting follow-up target.
We use TESS, Spitzer, ground-based light curves and HARPS spectrograph radial velocity measurements to establish the physical properties of the transiting exoplanet candidate TOI-674b. We perform a joint fit of the light curves and radial velocity time series to measure the mass, radius, and orbital parameters of the candidate. We confirm and characterize TOI-674b, a low-density super-Neptune transiting a nearby M dwarf. The host star (TIC 158588995, $V = 14.2$ mag, $J = 10.3$ mag) is characterized by its M2V spectral type with $mathrm{M}_star=0.420pm 0.010$ M$_odot$, $mathrm{R}_star = 0.420pm 0.013$ R$_odot$, and $mathrm{T}_{mathrm{eff}} = 3514pm 57$ K, and is located at a distance $d=46.16 pm 0.03$ pc. Combining the available transit light curves plus radial velocity measurements and jointly fitting a circular orbit model, we find an orbital period of $1.977143 pm 3times 10^{-6}$ days, a planetary radius of $5.25 pm 0.17$ $mathrm{R}_oplus$, and a mass of $23.6 pm 3.3$ $mathrm{M}_oplus$ implying a mean density of $rho_mathrm{p} = 0.91 pm 0.15$ [g cm$^{-3}$]. A non-circular orbit model fit delivers similar planetary mass and radius values within the uncertainties. Given the measured planetary radius and mass, TOI-674b is one of the largest and most massive super-Neptune class planets discovered around an M type star to date. It is also a resident of the so-called Neptunian desert and a promising candidate for atmospheric characterisation using the James Webb Space Telescope.
We present the discovery and characterization of two sub-Neptunes in close orbits, as well as a tentative outer planet of a similar size, orbiting TOI-1260 - a low metallicity K6V dwarf star. Photometry from TESS yields radii of $R_{rm b} = 2.33 pm 0.10$ $R_{oplus}$ and $R_{rm c} = 2.82 pm 0.15$ $R_{oplus}$, and periods of 3.13 and 7.49 days for TOI-1260b and TOI-1260c, respectively. We combined the TESS data with a series of ground-based follow-up observations to characterize the planetary system. From HARPS-N high-precision radial velocities we obtain $M_{rm b} = 8.61_{ - 1.46 } ^ { + 1.36 }$ $M_{oplus}$ and $M_{rm c} = 11.84_{ - 3.23 } ^ { + 3.38 }$ $M_{oplus}$. The star is moderately active with a complex activity pattern, which necessitated the use of Gaussian process regression for both the light curve detrending and the radial velocity modelling, in the latter case guided by suitable activity indicators. We successfully disentangle the stellar-induced signal from the planetary signals, underlining the importance and usefulness of the Gaussian Process approach. We test the systems stability against atmospheric photoevaporation and find that the TOI-1260 planets are classic examples of the structure and composition ambiguity typical for the $2-3$ $R_{oplus}$ range.
We report the discovery and characterization of two transiting planets around the bright M1 V star LP 961-53 (TOI-776, J = 8.5 mag, M = 0.54+-0.03 Msun) detected during Sector 10 observations of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Combining the TESS photometry with HARPS radial velocities, as well as ground-based follow-up transit observations from MEarth and LCOGT telescopes, we measured for the inner planet, TOI-776 b, a period of 8.25 d, a radius of 1.85+-0.13 Re, and a mass of 4.0+-0.9 Me; and for the outer planet, TOI-776 c, a period of 15.66 d, a radius of 2.02+-0.14 Re, and a mass of 5.3+-1.8 Me. The Doppler data shows one additional signal, with a period of 34 d, associated with the rotational period of the star. The analysis of fifteen years of ground-based photometric monitoring data and the inspection of different spectral line indicators confirm this assumption. The bulk densities of TOI-776 b and c allow for a wide range of possible interior and atmospheric compositions. However, both planets have retained a significant atmosphere, with slightly different envelope mass fractions. Thanks to their location near the radius gap for M dwarfs, we can start to explore the mechanism(s) responsible for the radius valley emergence around low-mass stars as compared to solar-like stars. While a larger sample of well-characterized planets in this parameter space is still needed to draw firm conclusions, we tentatively estimate that the stellar mass below which thermally-driven mass loss is no longer the main formation pathway for sculpting the radius valley is between 0.63 and 0.54 Msun. Due to the brightness of the star, the TOI-776 system is also an excellent target for the James Webb Space Telescope, providing a remarkable laboratory to break the degeneracy in planetary interior models and to test formation and evolution theories of small planets around low-mass stars.
We report the detection of the first circumbinary planet found by TESS. The target, a known eclipsing binary, was observed in sectors 1 through 12 at 30-minute cadence and in sectors 4 through 12 at two-minute cadence. It consists of two stars with masses of 1.1 MSun and 0.3 MSun on a slightly eccentric (0.16), 14.6-day orbit, producing prominent primary eclipses and shallow secondary eclipses. The planet has a radius of ~6.9 REarth and was observed to make three transits across the primary star of roughly equal depths (~0.2%) but different durations -- a common signature of transiting circumbinary planets. Its orbit is nearly circular (e ~ 0.09) with an orbital period of 95.2 days. The orbital planes of the binary and the planet are aligned to within ~1 degree. To obtain a complete solution for the system, we combined the TESS photometry with existing ground-based radial-velocity observations in a numerical photometric-dynamical model. The system demonstrates the discovery potential of TESS for circumbinary planets, and provides further understanding of the formation and evolution of planets orbiting close binary stars.