The basic geometry of the Solar System -- the shapes, spacings, and orientations of the planetary orbits -- has long been a subject of fascination as well as inspiration for planet formation theories. For exoplanetary systems, those same properties h
ave only recently come into focus. Here we review our current knowledge of the occurrence of planets around other stars, their orbital distances and eccentricities, the orbital spacings and mutual inclinations in multiplanet systems, the orientation of the host stars rotation axis, and the properties of planets in binary-star systems.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will search for planets transiting bright and nearby stars. TESS has been selected by NASA for launch in 2017 as an Astrophysics Explorer mission. The spacecraft will be placed into a highly elliptical
13.7-day orbit around the Earth. During its two-year mission, TESS will employ four wide-field optical CCD cameras to monitor at least 200,000 main-sequence dwarf stars with I = 4-13 for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. Each star will be observed for an interval ranging from one month to one year, depending mainly on the stars ecliptic latitude. The longest observing intervals will be for stars near the ecliptic poles, which are the optimal locations for follow-up observations with the James Webb Space Telescope. Brightness measurements of preselected target stars will be recorded every 2 min, and full frame images will be recorded every 30 min. TESS stars will be 10-100 times brighter than those surveyed by the pioneering Kepler mission. This will make TESS planets easier to characterize with follow-up observations. TESS is expected to find more than a thousand planets smaller than Neptune, including dozens that are comparable in size to the Earth. Public data releases will occur every four months, inviting immediate community-wide efforts to study the new planets. The TESS legacy will be a catalog of the nearest and brightest stars hosting transiting planets, which will endure as highly favorable targets for detailed investigations.
As part of the BANANA project (Binaries Are Not Always Neatly Aligned), we have found that the eclipsing binary CV Velorum has misaligned rotation axes. Based on our analysis of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, we find sky-projected spin-orbit angles
of $beta_{rm p} = -52pm6^{circ}$ and $beta_{rm s}= 3pm7^{circ}$ for the primary and secondary stars (B2.5V $+$ B2.5V, $P=6.9$ d). We combine this information with several measurements of changing projected stellar rotation speeds ($v sin i_{star}$) over the last $30$ years, leading to a model in which the primary stars obliquity is $approx65^{circ}$, and its spin axis precesses around the total angular momentum vector with a period of about $140$ years. The geometry of the secondary star is less clear, although a significant obliquity is also implicated by the observed time variations in the $v sin i_{star}$. By integrating the secular tidal evolution equations backward in time, we find that the system could have evolved from a state of even stronger misalignment similar to DI Herculis, a younger but otherwise comparable binary.
We present the discovery and characterization of a giant planet orbiting the young Sun-like star Kepler-63 (KOI-63, $m_{rm Kp} = 11.6$, $T_{rm eff} = 5576$ K, $M_star = 0.98, M_odot$). The planet transits every 9.43 days, with apparent depth variatio
ns and brightening anomalies caused by large starspots. The planets radius is $6.1 pm 0.2 R_{earth}$, based on the transit light curve and the estimated stellar parameters. The planets mass could not be measured with the existing radial-velocity data, due to the high level of stellar activity, but if we assume a circular orbit we can place a rough upper bound of $120 M_{earth}$ (3$sigma$). The host star has a high obliquity ($psi$ = $104^{circ}$), based on the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and an analysis of starspot-crossing events. This result is valuable because almost all previous obliquity measurements are for stars with more massive planets and shorter-period orbits. In addition, the polar orbit of the planet combined with an analysis of spot-crossing events reveals a large and persistent polar starspot. Such spots have previously been inferred using Doppler tomography, and predicted in simulations of magnetic activity of young Sun-like stars.
We provide evidence that the obliquities of stars with close-in giant planets were initially nearly random, and that the low obliquities that are often observed are a consequence of star-planet tidal interactions. The evidence is based on 14 new meas
urements of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect (for the systems HAT-P-6, HAT-P-7, HAT-P-16, HAT-P-24, HAT-P-32, HAT-P-34, WASP-12, WASP-16, WASP-18, WASP-19, WASP-26, WASP-31, Gl 436, and Kepler-8), as well as a critical review of previous observations. The low-obliquity (well-aligned) systems are those for which the expected tidal timescale is short, and likewise the high-obliquity (misaligned and retrograde) systems are those for which the expected timescale is long. At face value, this finding indicates that the origin of hot Jupiters involves dynamical interactions like planet-planet interactions or the Kozai effect that tilt their orbits, rather than inspiraling due to interaction with a protoplanetary disk. We discuss the status of this hypothesis and the observations that are needed for a more definitive conclusion.
We measure a tilt of 86+-6 deg between the sky projections of the rotation axis of the WASP-7 star, and the orbital axis of its close-in giant planet. This measurement is based on observations of the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect with the Planet Fi
nder Spectrograph on the Magellan II telescope. The result conforms with the previously noted pattern among hot-Jupiter hosts, namely, that the hosts lacking thick convective envelopes have high obliquities. Because the planets trajectory crosses a wide range of stellar latitudes, observations of the RM effect can in principle reveal the stellar differential rotation profile; however, with the present data the signal of differential rotation could not be detected. The host star is found to exhibit radial-velocity noise (``stellar jitter) with an amplitude of ~30m/s over a timescale of days.
Kepler-16 is an eccentric low-mass eclipsing binary with a circumbinary transiting planet. Here we investigate the angular momentum of the primary star, based on Kepler photometry and Keck spectroscopy. The primary stars rotation period is 35.1 +/- 1
.0 days, and its projected obliquity with respect to the stellar binary orbit is 1.6 +/- 2.4 degrees. Therefore the three largest sources of angular momentum---the stellar orbit, the planetary orbit, and the primarys rotation---are all closely aligned. This finding supports a formation scenario involving accretion from a single disk. Alternatively, tides may have realigned the stars despite their relatively wide separation (0.2 AU), a hypothesis that is supported by the agreement between the measured rotation period and the pseudosynchronous period of tidal evolution theory. The rotation period, chromospheric activity level, and fractional light variations suggest a main-sequence age of 2-4 Gyr. Evolutionary models of low-mass stars can match the observed masses and radii of the primary and secondary stars to within about 3%.
We present the analysis of 4 months of Kepler photometry of the K4V star HAT-P-11, including 26 transits of its super-Neptune planet. The transit data exhibit numerous anomalies that we interpret as passages of the planet over dark starspots. These s
pot-crossing anomalies preferentially occur at two specific phases of the transit. These phases can be understood as the intersection points between the transit chord and the active latitudes of the host star, where starspots are most abundant. Based on the measured characteristics of spot-crossing anomalies, and previous observations of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, we find two solutions for the stellar obliquity (psi) and active latitude (l): either psi = 106 and l = 19.7, or psi = 97 and l = 67 (all in degrees). If the active latitude changes with time in analogy with the butterfly diagram of the Suns activity cycle, future observations should reveal changes in the preferred phases of spot-crossing anomalies.
We present precise radial-velocity measurements of WASP-1 and WASP-2 throughout transits of their giant planets. Our goal was to detect the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect, the anomalous radial velocity observed during eclipses of rotating stars, whi
ch can be used to study the obliquities of planet-hosting stars. For WASP-1 a weak signal of a prograde orbit was detected with ~2sigma confidence, and for WASP-2 no signal was detected. The resulting upper bounds on the RM amplitude have different implications for these two systems, because of the contrasting transit geometries and the stellar types. Because WASP-1 is an F7V star, and such stars are typically rapid rotators, the most probable reason for the suppression of the RM effect is that the star is viewed nearly pole-on. This implies the WASP-1 star has a high obliquity with respect to the edge-on planetary orbit. Because WASP-2 is a K1V star, and is expected to be a slow rotator, no firm conclusion can be drawn about the stellar obliquity. Our data and our analysis contradict an earlier claim that WASP-2b has a retrograde orbit, thereby revoking this systems status as an exception to the pattern that cool stars have low obliquities.
We have detected transits of the innermost planet e orbiting 55 Cnc (V=6.0), based on two weeks of nearly continuous photometric monitoring with the MOST space telescope. The transits occur with the period (0.74 d) and phase that had been predicted b
y Dawson & Fabrycky, and with the expected duration and depth for the crossing of a Sun-like star by a hot super-Earth. Assuming the stars mass and radius to be 0.963_{-0.029}^{+0.051} M_sun and 0.943 +/- 0.010 R_sun, the planets mass, radius, and mean density are 8.63 +/- 0.35 Mearth, 2.00 +/- 0.14 Rearth, and 5.9_{-1.1}^{+1.5} g/cm^3. The mean density is comparable to that of Earth, despite the greater mass and consequently greater compression of the interior of 55 Cnc e. This suggests a rock-iron composition supplemented by a significant mass of water, gas, or other light elements. Outside of transits, we detected a sinusoidal signal resembling the expected signal due to the changing illuminated phase of the planet, but with a full range (168 +/- 70 ppm) too large to be reflected light or thermal emission. This signal has no straightforward interpretation and should be checked with further observations. The host star of 55 Cnc e is brighter than that of any other known transiting planet, which will facilitate future investigations.
