A low-eccentricity migration pathway for a 13-h-period Earth analogue in a four-planet system

It is commonly accepted that exoplanets with orbital periods shorter than one day, also known as ultra-short-period (USP) planets, formed further out within their natal protoplanetary disks before migrating to their current-day orbits via dynamical interactions. One of the most accepted theories suggests a violent scenario involving high-eccentricity migration followed by tidal circularization. Here we present the discovery of a four-planet system orbiting the bright (V = 10.5) K6 dwarf star TOI-500. The innermost planet is a transiting, Earth-sized USP planet with an orbital period of ~13 hours, a mass of 1.42 \ub1 0.18 M⊕, a radius of 1.166−0.058+0.061R⊕ and a mean density of 4.89−0.88+1.03gcm−3. Via Doppler spectroscopy, we discovered that the system hosts 3 outer planets on nearly circular orbits with periods of 6.6, 26.2 and 61.3 days and minimum masses of 5.03 \ub1 0.41 M⊕, 33.12 \ub1 0.88 M⊕ and 15.05−1.11+1.12M⊕, respectively. The presence of both a USP planet and a low-mass object on a 6.6-day orbit indicates that the architecture of this system can be explained via a scenario in which the planets started on low-eccentricity orbits then moved inwards through a quasi-static secular migration. Our numerical simulations show that this migration channel can bring TOI-500 b to its current location in 2 Gyr, starting from an initial orbit of 0.02 au. TOI-500 is the first four-planet system known to host a USP Earth analogue whose current architecture can be explained via a non-violent migration scenario

A Radial Velocity Study of the Planetary System of Pi Mensae: Improved Planet Parameters for PI Mensae c and a Third Planet on a 125-d Orbit

Pi Men hosts a transiting planet detected by the TESS space mission and an outer planet in a 5.7-yr orbit discovered by RV surveys. We studied this system using new radial velocity (RV) measurements taken with the HARPS spectrograph on ESO's 3.6-m telescope as well as archival data. We constrain the stellar RV semi-amplitude due to the transiting planet, Pi Men c, as K_c = 1.21 +/- 0.12 m/s resulting in a planet mass of M_c = 3.63 +/- 0.38 M_Earth. A planet radius of R_c= 2.145 +/- 0.015 R_Earth yields a bulk density of rho = 2.03 +/- 0.22 g/cm^{-3}. The precisely determined density of this planet and the brightness of the host star make Pi Men c an excellent laboratory for internal structure and atmospheric characterization studies. Our HARPS RV measurements also reveal compelling evidence for a third body, PI Men d, with a minimum mass M sin i = 13.38 +/- 1.35 M_Earth orbiting with a period of P_d = 125 d on an eccentric orbit (e = 0.22). A simple dynamical analysis indicates that the orbit of Pi Men d is stable on timescales of at least 20 Myrs. Given the mutual inclination between the outer gaseous giant and the inner rocky planet and the presence of a third body at 125 d, Pi Men is an important planetary system for dynamical and formation studies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. 40 pages, 16 figure

GJ 367b: A dense, ultrashort-period sub-Earth planet transiting a nearby red dwarf star

Ultrashort-period (USP) exoplanets have orbital periods shorter than 1 day. Precise masses and radii of USP exoplanets could provide constraints on their unknown formation and evolution processes. We report the detection and characterization of the USP planet GJ 367b using high-precision photometry and radial velocity observations. GJ 367b orbits a bright (V-band magnitude of 10.2), nearby, and red (M-type) dwarf star every 7.7 hours. GJ 367b has a radius of 0.718 \ub1 0.054 Earth-radii and a mass of 0.546 \ub1 0.078 Earth-masses, making it a sub-Earth planet. The corresponding bulk density is 8.106 \ub1 2.165 grams per cubic centimeter—close to that of iron. An interior structure model predicts that the planet has an iron core radius fraction of 86 \ub1 5%, similar to that of Mercury’s interior