Wastewater Sequencing Reveals Community and Variant Dynamics of the Collective Human Virome

Wastewater is a discarded human by-product, but its analysis may help us understand the health of populations. Epidemiologists first analyzed wastewater to track outbreaks of poliovirus decades ago, but so-called wastewater-based epidemiology was reinvigorated to monitor SARS-CoV-2 levels while bypassing the difficulties and pit falls of individual testing. Current approaches overlook the activity of most human viruses and preclude a deeper understanding of human virome community dynamics. Here, we conduct a comprehensive sequencing-based analysis of 363 longitudinal wastewater samples from ten distinct sites in two major cities. Critical to detection is the use of a viral probe capture set targeting thousands of viral species or variants. Over 450 distinct pathogenic viruses from 28 viral families are observed, most of which have never been detected in such samples. Sequencing reads of established pathogens and emerging viruses correlate to clinical data sets of SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, and monkeypox viruses, outlining the public health utility of this approach. Viral communities are tightly organized by space and time. Finally, the most abundant human viruses yield sequence variant information consistent with regional spread and evolution. We reveal the viral landscape of human wastewater and its potential to improve our understanding of outbreaks, transmission, and its effects on overall population health

Validating AU Microscopii d with Transit Timing Variations

AU Mic is a young (22 Myr) nearby exoplanetary system that exhibits excess TTVs that cannot be accounted for by the two known transiting planets nor stellar activity. We present the statistical "validation" of the tentative planet AU Mic d (even though there are examples of "confirmed" planets with ambiguous orbital periods). We add 18 new transits and nine midpoint times in an updated TTV analysis to prior work. We perform the joint modeling of transit light curves using EXOFASTv2 and extract the transit midpoint times. Next, we construct an O-C diagram and use Exo-Striker to model the TTVs. We generate TTV log-likelihood periodograms to explore possible solutions for the period of planet d and then follow those up with detailed TTV and RV MCMC modeling and stability tests. We find several candidate periods for AU Mic d, all of which are near resonances with AU Mic b and c of varying order. Based on our model comparisons, the most-favored orbital period of AU Mic d is 12.73596+/-0.00793 days (T_{C,d}=2458340.55781+/-0.11641 BJD), which puts the three planets near a 4:6:9 mean-motion orbital resonance. The mass for d is 1.053+/-0.511 M_E, making this planet Earth-like in mass. If confirmed, AU Mic d would be the first known Earth-mass planet orbiting a young star and would provide a valuable opportunity in probing a young terrestrial planet's atmosphere. Additional TTV observation of the AU Mic system are needed to further constrain the planetary masses, search for possible transits of AU Mic d, and detect possible additional planets beyond AU Mic c.Comment: 89 pages, 35 figures, 34 tables. Redid EXOFASTv2 transit modeling to recover more reasonable stellar posteriors, so redid Exo-Striker TTV modeling for consistency. Despite these changes, the overall results remain unchanged: the 12-7-day case is still the most favored. Submitted to AAS Journals on 2023 Feb 9t

KELT-22Ab: A Massive, Short-Period Hot Jupiter Transiting a Near-solar Twin

We present the discovery of KELT-22Ab, a hot Jupiter from the KELT-South survey. KELT-22Ab transits the moderately bright (V ∼ 11.1) Sun-like G2V star TYC 7518-468-1. The planet has an orbital period of days, a radius of , and a relatively large mass of . The star has , , K, (cgs), and [m/H] = ; thus other than its slightly super-solar metallicity, it appears to be a near-solar twin. Surprisingly, KELT-22A exhibits kinematics and a Galactic orbit that are somewhat atypical for thin-disk stars. Nevertheless, the star is rotating rapidly for its estimated age, and shows evidence of chromospheric activity. Imaging reveals a slightly fainter companion to KELT-22A that is likely bound, with a projected separation of 6″ (∼1400 au). In addition to the orbital motion caused by the transiting planet, we detect a possible linear trend in the radial velocity of KELT-22A, suggesting the presence of another relatively nearby body that is perhaps non-stellar. KELT-22Ab is highly irradiated (as a consequence of the small semimajor axis of ), and is mildly inflated. At such small separations, tidal forces become significant. The configuration of this system is optimal for measuring the rate of tidal dissipation within the host star. Our models predict that, due to tidal forces, the semimajor axis is decreasing rapidly, and KELT-22Ab is predicted to spiral into the star within the next Gyr

Validating AU Microscopii d with Transit Timing Variations

AU Mic is a young (22 Myr), nearby exoplanetary system that exhibits excess transit timing variations (TTVs) that cannot be accounted for by the two known transiting planets nor stellar activity. We present the statistical “validation” of the tentative planet AU Mic d (even though there are examples of “confirmed” planets with ambiguous orbital periods). We add 18 new transits and nine midpoint times in an updated TTV analysis to prior work. We perform the joint modeling of transit light curves using EXOFASTv2 and extract the transit midpoint times. Next, we construct an O − C diagram and use Exo-Striker to model the TTVs. We generate TTV log-likelihood periodograms to explore possible solutions for d’s period, then follow those up with detailed TTV and radial velocity Markov Chain Monte Carlo modeling and stability tests. We find several candidate periods for AU Mic d, all of which are near resonances with AU Mic b and c of varying order. Based on our model comparisons, the most-favored orbital period of AU Mic d is 12.73596 ± 0.00793 days ( T _C _,d = 2458340.55781 ± 0.11641 BJD), which puts the three planets near 4:6:9 mean-motion resonance. The mass for d is 1.053 ± 0.511 M _⊕ , making this planet Earth-like in mass. If confirmed, AU Mic d would be the first known Earth-mass planet orbiting a young star and would provide a valuable opportunity in probing a young terrestrial planet’s atmosphere. Additional TTV observations of the AU Mic system are needed to further constrain the planetary masses, search for possible transits of AU Mic d, and detect possible additional planets beyond AU Mic c

A planet within the debris disk around the pre-main-sequence star AU Microscopii

AU Microscopii (AU Mic) is the second closest pre main sequence star, at a distance of 9.79 parsecs and with an age of 22 million years. AU Mic possesses a relatively rare and spatially resolved3 edge-on debris disk extending from about 35 to 210 astronomical units from the star, and with clumps exhibiting non-Keplerian motion. Detection of newly formed planets around such a star is challenged by the presence of spots, plage, flares and other manifestations of magnetic activity on the star. Here we report observations of a planet transiting AU Mic. The transiting planet, AU Mic b, has an orbital period of 8.46 days, an orbital distance of 0.07 astronomical units, a radius of 0.4 Jupiter radii, and a mass of less than 0.18 Jupiter masses at 3 sigma confidence. Our observations of a planet co-existing with a debris disk offer the opportunity to test the predictions of current models of planet formation and evolution.Comment: Nature, published June 24th [author spelling name fix

KELT-24b: A 5M_J Planet on a 5.6 day Well-Aligned Orbit around the Young V=8.3 F-star HD 93148

We present the discovery of KELT-24 b, a massive hot Jupiter orbiting a bright (V=8.3 mag, K=7.2 mag) young F-star with a period of 5.6 days. The host star, KELT-24 (HD 93148), has a T_(eff) =6508±49 K, a mass of M∗ = 1.461^(+0.056)_(−0.060) M_⊙, radius of R∗ = 1.506±0.022 R_⊙, and an age of 0.77^(+0.61)_(−0.42) Gyr. Its planetary companion (KELT-24 b) has a radius of R_P = 1.272^(+0.021)_(−0.022) R_J, a mass of MP = 5.18^(+0.21)_(−0.22) M_J, and from Doppler tomographic observations, we find that the planet's orbit is well-aligned to its host star's projected spin axis (λ = 2.6^(+5.1)_(−3.6)). The young age estimated for KELT-24 suggests that it only recently started to evolve from the zero-age main sequence. KELT-24 is the brightest star known to host a transiting giant planet with a period between 5 and 10 days. Although the circularization timescale is much longer than the age of the system, we do not detect a large eccentricity or significant misalignment that is expected from dynamical migration. The brightness of its host star and its moderate surface gravity make KELT-24b an intriguing target for detailed atmospheric characterization through spectroscopic emission measurements since it would bridge the current literature results that have primarily focused on lower mass hot Jupiters and a few brown dwarfs

Another Shipment of Six Short-Period Giant Planets from TESS

We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) -- TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), & TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9 <G< 11.8, 7.7 <K< 10.1). Using a combination of time-series photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations from the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) Working Group, we have determined that the planets are Jovian-sized (R$_{P}$ = 1.00-1.45 R$_{J}$), have masses ranging from 0.92 to 5.35 M$_{J}$, and orbit F, G, and K stars (4753 $<$ T$_{eff}$ $<$ 7360 K). We detect a significant orbital eccentricity for the three longest-period systems in our sample: TOI-2025 b (P = 8.872 days, $e$ = $0.220\pm0.053$), TOI-2145 b (P = 10.261 days, $e$ = $0.182^{+0.039}_{-0.049}$), and TOI-2497 b (P = 10.656 days, $e$ = $0.196^{+0.059}_{-0.053}$). TOI-2145 b and TOI-2497 b both orbit subgiant host stars (3.8 $<$ $\log$ g $<$4.0), but these planets show no sign of inflation despite very high levels of irradiation. The lack of inflation may be explained by the high mass of the planets; $5.35^{+0.32}_{-0.35}$ M$_{\rm J}$ (TOI-2145 b) and $5.21\pm0.52$ M$_{\rm J}$ (TOI-2497 b). These six new discoveries contribute to the larger community effort to use {\it TESS} to create a magnitude-complete, self-consistent sample of giant planets with well-determined parameters for future detailed studies.Comment: 20 Pages, 6 Figures, 8 Tables, Accepted by MNRA