IW ../submit_V2/abstract.txt ( Row 1 Col 1 6:48 Ctrl-K H for help We report the discovery by the HATSouth network of HATS-7b, a transiting Super-Neptune with a mass of 0.120+/-0.012MJ, a radius of 0.563+/-(0.046,0.034)RJ, and an orbital period of 3.1
853days. The host star is a moderately bright (V=13.340+/-0.010mag, K_S=10.976+/-0.026mag) K dwarf star with a mass of 0.849+/-0.027Msun , a radius of 0.815+/-(0.049,-0.035)Rsun, and a metallicity of [Fe/H]=+0.250+/-0.080. The star is photometrically quiet to within the precision of the HATSouth measurements and has low RV jitter. HATS-7b is the second smallest radius planet discovered by a wide-field ground-based transit survey, and one of only a handful of Neptune-size planets with mass and radius determined to 10% precision. Theoretical modeling of HATS-7b yields a hydrogen-helium fraction of 18+/-4% (rock-iron core and H2-He envelope), or 9+/-4% (ice core and H2-He envelope), i.e.it has a composition broadly similar to that of Uranus and Neptune, and very different from that of Saturn, which has 75% of its mass in H2-He. Based on a sample of transiting exoplanets with accurately (<20%) determined parameters, we establish approximate power-law relations for the envelopes of the mass-density distribution of exoplanets. HATS-7b, which, together with the recently discovered HATS-8b, is one of the first two transiting super-Neptunes discovered in the Southern sky, is a prime target for additional follow-up observations with Southern hemisphere facilities to characterize the atmospheres of Super-Neptunes (which we define as objects with mass greater than that of Neptune, and smaller than halfway between that of Neptune and Saturn, i.e. 0.054 MJ<Mp<0.18 MJ).
Ground-based exoplanet surveys such as SuperWASP, HATNet and KELT have discovered close to two hundred transiting extrasolar planets in the past several years. The strategy of these surveys is to look at a large field of view and measure the brightne
sses of its bright stars to around half a percent per point precision, which is adequate for detecting hot Jupiters. Typically, these surveys use CCD detectors to achieve high precision photometry. These CCDs, however, are expensive relative to other consumer-grade optical imaging devices, such as digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs). We look at the possibility of using a digital single-lens reflex camera for precision photometry. Specifically, we used a Canon EOS 60D camera that records light in 3 colors simultaneously. The DSLR was integrated into the HATNet survey and collected observations for a month, after which photometry was extracted for 6600 stars in a selected stellar field. We found that the DSLR achieves a best-case median absolute deviation (MAD) of 4.6 mmag per 180 s exposure when the DSLR color channels are combined, and 1000 stars are measured to better than 10 mmag (1%). Also, we achieve 10,mmag or better photometry in the individual colors. This is good enough to detect transiting hot Jupiters. We performed a candidate search on all stars and found four candidates, one of which is KELT-3b, the only known transiting hot Jupiter in our selected field. We conclude that the Canon 60D is a cheap, lightweight device capable of useful photometry in multiple colors.
We report the discovery of HAT-P-56b by the HATNet survey, an inflated hot Jupiter transiting a bright F type star in Field 0 of NASAs K2 mission. We combine ground-based discovery and follow-up light curves with high precision photometry from K2, as
well as ground-based radial velocities from TRES on the FLWO 1.5m telescope to determine the physical properties of this system. HAT-P-56b has a mass of $2.18 M_J$, radius of $1.47 R_J$, and transits its host star on a near-grazing orbit with a period of 2.7908 d. The radius of HAT-P-56b is among the largest known for a planet with $M_p > 2 M_J$. The host star has a V-band magnitude of 10.9, mass of 1.30 $M_odot$, and radius of 1.43 $R_odot$. The periodogram of the K2 light curve suggests the star is a $gamma$ Dor variable. HAT-P-56b is an example of a ground-based discovery of a transiting planet, where space-based observations greatly improve the confidence in the confirmation of its planetary nature, and also improve the accuracy of the planetary parameters.
HATS-8b is a low density transiting super-Neptune discovered as part of the HATSouth project. The planet orbits its solar-like G dwarf host (V=14.03 $pm$ 0.10 and T$_{eff}$ =5679 $pm$ 50 K) with a period of 3.5839 d. HATS-8b is the third lowest mass
transiting exoplanet to be discovered from a wide-field ground based search, and with a mass of 0.138 $pm$ 0.019 M$_J$ it is approximately half-way between the masses of Neptune and Saturn. However HATS-8b has a radius of 0.873 (+0.123,-0.075) R$_J$, resulting in a bulk density of just 0.259 $pm$ 0.091 g.cm$^{-3}$. The metallicity of the host star is super-Solar ([Fe/H]=0.210 $pm$ 0.080), arguing against the idea that low density exoplanets form from metal-poor environments. The low density and large radius of HATS-8b results in an atmospheric scale height of almost 1000 km, and in addition to this there is an excellent reference star of near equal magnitude at just 19 arcsecond separation on the sky. These factors make HATS-8b an exciting target for future atmospheric characterization studies, particularly for long-slit transmission spectroscopy.
Fourier analysis of the light curve of AC And from the HATNet database reveals the rich frequency structure of this object. Above 30 components are found down to the amplitude of 3 mmag. Several of these frequencies are not the linear combinations of
the three basic components. We detect period increase in all three components that may lend support to the Pop I classification of this variable.
We report the discovery of the transiting extrasolar planet HAT-P-49b. The planet transits the bright (V = 10.3) slightly evolved F-star HD 340099 with a mass of 1.54M_S and a radius of 1.83 R_S. HAT-P-49b is orbiting one of the 25 brightest stars to
host a transiting planet which makes this a favorable candidate for detailed follow-up. This system is an especially strong target for Rossiter- McLaughlin follow-up due to the fast rotation of the host star, 16 km/s. The planetary companion has a period of 2.6915 d, mass of 1.73 M_J and radius of 1.41 R_J. The planetary characteristics are consistent with that of a classical hot Jupiter but we note that this is the fourth most massive star to host a transiting planet with both M_p and R_p well determined.
We report the discovery by the HATNet survey of three new transiting extrasolar planets orbiting moderately bright (V=13.2, 12.8 and 11.9) stars. The planets have orbital periods of 4.3012, 3.1290, and 4.4631 days, masses of 0.39, 0.89, and 0.49 Mjup
, and radii of 1.28, 1.43, and 1.28 Rjup. The stellar hosts have masses of 0.94, 1.26, and 1.28 Msun. Each system shows significant systematic variations in its residual radial velocities indicating the possible presence of additional components. Based on its Bayesian evidence, the preferred model for HAT-P-44 consists of two planets, including the transiting component, with the outer planet having a period of 220 d and a minimum mass of 1.6 Mjup. Due to aliasing we cannot rule out an alternative solution for the outer planet having a period of 438 d and a minimum mass of 3.7 Mjup. For HAT-P-45 at present there is not enough data to justify the additional free parameters included in a multi-planet model, in this case a single-planet solution is preferred, but the required jitter of 22.5 +- 6.3 m/s is relatively high for a star of this type. For HAT-P-46 the preferred solution includes a second planet having a period of 78 d and a minimum mass of 2.0 Mjup, however the preference for this model over a single-planet model is not very strong. While substantial uncertainties remain as to the presence and/or properties of the outer planetary companions in these systems, the inner transiting planets are well characterized with measured properties that are fairly robust against changes in the assumed models for the outer planets. Continued RV monitoring is necessary to fully characterize these three planetary systems, the properties of which may have important implications for understanding the formation of hot Jupiters.
We report the discovery of HATS-1b, a transiting extrasolar planet orbiting the moderately bright V=12.05 G dwarf star GSC 6652-00186, and the first planet discovered by HATSouth, a global network of autonomous wide-field telescopes. HATS-1b has a pe
riod P~3.4465 d, mass Mp~1.86MJ, and radius Rp~1.30RJ. The host star has a mass of 0.99Msun, and radius of 1.04Rsun. The discovery light curve of HATS-1b has near continuous coverage over several multi-day periods, demonstrating the power of using a global network of telescopes to discover transiting planets.
HATSouth is the worlds first network of automated and homogeneous telescopes that is capable of year-round 24-hour monitoring of positions over an entire hemisphere of the sky. The primary scientific goal of the network is to discover and characteriz
e a large number of transiting extrasolar planets, reaching out to long periods and down to small planetary radii. HATSouth achieves this by monitoring extended areas on the sky, deriving high precision light curves for a large number of stars, searching for the signature of planetary transits, and confirming planetary candidates with larger telescopes. HATSouth employs 6 telescope units spread over 3 locations with large longitude separation in the southern hemisphere (Las Campanas Observatory, Chile; HESS site, Namibia; Siding Spring Observatory, Australia). Each of the HATSouth units holds four 0.18m diameter f/2.8 focal ratio telescope tubes on a common mount producing an 8.2x8.2 arcdeg field, imaged using four 4Kx4K CCD cameras and Sloan r filters, to give a pixel scale of 3.7 arcsec/pixel. The HATSouth network is capable of continuously monitoring 128 square arc-degrees. We present the technical details of the network, summarize operations, and present weather statistics for the 3 sites. On average each of the 6 HATSouth units has conducted observations on ~500 nights over a 2-year time period, yielding a total of more than 1million science frames at 4 minute integration time, and observing ~10.65 hours per day on average. We describe the scheme of our data transfer and reduction from raw pixel images to trend-filtered light curves and transiting planet candidates. Photometric precision reaches ~6 mmag at 4-minute cadence for the brightest non-saturated stars at r~10.5. We present detailed transit recovery simulations to determine the expected yield of transiting planets from HATSouth. (abridged)
We report the discovery of HAT-P-38b, a Saturn-mass exoplanet transiting the V=12.56 dwarf star GSC 2314-00559 on a P = 4.6404 d circular orbit. The host star is a 0.89Msun late G-dwarf, with solar metallicity, and a radius of 0.92Rsun. The planetary
companion has a mass of 0.27MJ, and radius of 0.82RJ. HAT-P-38b is one of the closest planets in mass and radius to Saturn ever discovered.
