The EBLM project-VII. Spin-orbit alignment for the circumbinary planet host EBLM J0608-59 A/TOI-1338 A

A dozen short-period detached binaries are known to host transiting circumbinary planets. In all circumbinary systems so far, the planetary and binary orbits are aligned within a couple of degrees. However, the obliquity of the primary star, which is an important tracer of their formation, evolution, and tidal history, has only been measured in one circumbinary system until now. EBLM J0608-59/TOI-1338 is a low-mass eclipsing binary system with a recently discovered circumbinary planet identified by TESS. Here, we perform high-resolution spectroscopy during primary eclipse to measure the projected stellar obliquity of the primary component. The obliquity is low, and thus the primary star is aligned with the binary and planetary orbits with a projected spin-orbit angle $\beta = 2.8 \pm 17.1$ deg. The rotation period of $18.1 \pm 1.6$ days implied by our measurement of $v\sin{i_\star}$ suggests that the primary has not yet pseudo-synchronized with the binary orbit, but is consistent with gyrochronology and weak tidal interaction with the binary companion. Our result, combined with the known coplanarity of the binary and planet orbits, is suggestive of formation from a single disc. Finally, we considered whether the spectrum of the faint secondary star could affect our measurements. We show through simulations that the effect is negligible for our system, but can lead to strong biases in $v\sin{i_\star}$ and $\beta$ for higher flux ratios. We encourage future studies in eclipse spectroscopy test the assumption of a dark secondary for flux ratios $\gtrsim 1$ ppt

Transit Photometry as an Exoplanet Discovery Method

Photometry with the transit method has arguably been the most successful exoplanet discovery method to date. A short overview about the rise of that method to its present status is given. The method's strength is the rich set of parameters that can be obtained from transiting planets, in particular in combination with radial velocity observations; the basic principles of these parameters are given. The method has however also drawbacks, which are the low probability that transits appear in randomly oriented planet systems, and the presence of astrophysical phenomena that may mimic transits and give rise to false detection positives. In the second part we outline the main factors that determine the design of transit surveys, such as the size of the survey sample, the temporal coverage, the detection precision, the sample brightness and the methods to extract transit events from observed light curves. Lastly, an overview over past, current and future transit surveys is given. For these surveys we indicate their basic instrument configuration and their planet catch, including the ranges of planet sizes and stellar magnitudes that were encountered. Current and future transit detection experiments concentrate primarily on bright or special targets, and we expect that the transit method remains a principal driver of exoplanet science, through new discoveries to be made and through the development of new generations of instruments.Comment: Review chapte

TOI-1055 b: Neptunian planet characterised with HARPS, TESS, and CHEOPS

CONTEXT: TOI-1055 is a Sun-like star known to host a transiting Neptune-sized planet on a 17.5-day orbit (TOI-1055 b). Radial velocity (RV) analyses carried out by two independent groups using nearly the same set of HARPS spectra have provided measurements of planetary masses that differ by ∼2σ. AIMS: Our aim in this work is to solve the inconsistency in the published planetary masses by significantly extending the set of HARPS RV measurements and employing a new analysis tool that is able to account and correct for stellar activity. Our further aim was to improve the precision on measurements of the planetary radius by observing two transits of the planet with the CHEOPS space telescope. METHODS: We fit a skew normal function to each cross correlation function extracted from the HARPS spectra to obtain RV measurements and hyperparameters to be used for the detrending. We evaluated the correlation changes of the hyperparameters along the RV time series using the breakpoint technique. We performed a joint photometric and RV analysis using a Markov chain Monte Carlo scheme to simultaneously detrend the light curves and the RV time series. RESULTS: We firmly detected the Keplerian signal of TOI-1055 b, deriving a planetary mass of Mb = 20.4−2.5+2.6 M⊕ (∼12%). This value is in agreement with one of the two estimates in the literature, but it is significantly more precise. Thanks to the TESS transit light curves combined with exquisite CHEOPS photometry, we also derived a planetary radius of Rb = 3.490−0.064+0.070 R⊕ (∼1.9%). Our mass and radius measurements imply a mean density of ρb = 2.65−0.35+0.37 g cm−3 (∼14%). We further inferred the planetary structure and found that TOI-1055 b is very likely to host a substantial gas envelope with a mass of 0.41−0.20+0.34 M⊕ and a thickness of 1.05−0.29+0.30 R⊕. CONCLUSIONS: Our RV extraction combined with the breakpoint technique has played a key role in the optimal removal of stellar activity from the HARPS time series, enabling us to solve the tension in the planetary mass values published so far for TOI-1055 b

The planetary system around HD 190622 (TOI-1054): Measuring the gas content of low-mass planets orbiting F-stars

Context. Giant planets are known to dominate the long-term stability of planetary systems due to their prevailing gravitational interactions, but they are also thought to play an important role in planet formation. Observational constraints improve our understanding of planetary formation processes such as the delivery of volatile-rich planetesimals from beyond the ice line into the inner planetary system. Additional constraints may come from studies of the atmosphere, but almost all such studies of the atmosphere investigate the detection of certain species, and abundances are not routinely quantitatively measured. Aims. Accurate measurements of planetary bulk parameters-that is, mass and density-provide constraints on the inner structure and chemical composition of transiting planets. This information provides insight into properties such as the amounts of volatile species, which in turn can be related to formation and evolution processes. Methods. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) reported a planetary candidate around HD 190622 (TOI-1054), which was subsequently validated and found to merit further characterization with photometric and spectroscopic facilities. The KESPRINT collaboration used data from the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) to independently confirm the planetary candidate, securing its mass, and revealing the presence of an outer giant planet in the system. The CHEOPS consortium invested telescope time in the transiting target in order to reduce the uncertainty on the radius, improving the characterization of the planet. Results. We present the discovery and characterization of the planetary system around HD 190622 (TOI-1054). This system hosts one transiting planet, which is smaller than Neptune (3.087-0.053+0.058REarth, 7.7 ± 1.0 MEarth) but has a similar bulk density (1.43 ± 0.21 g cm-3) and an orbital period of 16 days; and a giant planet, not known to be transiting, with a minimum mass of 227.0 ± 6.7 MEarth in an orbit with a period of 315 days. Conclusions. Our measurements constrain the structure and composition of the transiting planet. HD 190622b has singular properties among the known population of transiting planets, which we discuss in detail. Among the sub-Neptune-sized planets known today, this planet stands out because of its large gas content

Liverpool telescope 2: a new robotic facility for rapid transient follow-up

The Liverpool Telescope is one of the world's premier facilities for time domain astronomy. The time domain landscape is set to radically change in the coming decade, with surveys such as LSST providing huge numbers of transient detections on a nightly basis; transient detections across the electromagnetic spectrum from other facilities such as SVOM, SKA and CTA; and the era of `multi-messenger astronomy', wherein events are detected via non-electromagnetic means, such as gravitational wave emission. We describe here our plans for Liverpool Telescope 2: a new robotic telescope designed to capitalise on this new era of time domain astronomy. LT2 will be a 4-metre class facility co-located with the LT at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos on the Canary island of La Palma. The telescope will be designed for extremely rapid response: the aim is that the telescope will take data within 30 seconds of the receipt of a trigger from another facility. The motivation for this is twofold: firstly it will make it a world-leading facility for the study of fast fading transients and explosive phenomena discovered at early times. Secondly, it will enable large-scale programmes of low-to-intermediate resolution spectral classification of transients to be performed with great efficiency. In the target-rich environment of the LSST era, minimising acquisition overheads will be key to maximising the science gains from any follow-up programme. The telescope will have a diverse instrument suite which is simultaneously mounted for automatic changes, but it is envisaged that the primary instrument will be an intermediate resolution, optical/infrared spectrograph for scientific exploitation of transients discovered with the next generation of synoptic survey facilities. In this paper we outline the core science drivers for the telescope, and the requirements for the optical and mechanical design

The Kepler-19 System: A Thick-envelope Super-Earth with Two Neptune-mass Companions Characterized Using Radial Velocities and Transit Timing Variations

We report a detailed characterization of the Kepler-19 system. This star was previously known to host a transiting planet with a period of 9.29 days, a radius of 2.2 R⊕ and an upper limit on the mass of 20 M⊕. The presence of a second, non-transiting planet was inferred from the transit time variations (TTVs) of Kepler-19b, over 8 quarters of Kepler photometry, although neither mass nor period could be determined. By combining new TTVs measurements from all the Kepler quarters and 91 high-precision radial velocities obtained with the HARPS-N spectrograph, we measured through dynamical simulations a mass of 8.4±1.6 M⊕ for Kepler-19b. From the same data, assuming system coplanarity, we determined an orbital period of 28.7 days and a mass of 13.1±2.7 M⊕ for Kepler-19c and discovered a Neptune-like planet with a mass of 20.3±3.4 M⊕ on a 63 days orbit. By comparing dynamical simulations with non-interacting Keplerian orbits, we concluded that neglecting interactions between planets may lead to systematic errors that could hamper the precision in the orbital parameters when the dataset spans several years. With a density of 4.32±0.87 g cm−3 (0.78±0.16 ρ⊕) Kepler-19b belongs to the group of planets with a rocky core and a significant fraction of volatiles, in opposition to low-density planets characterized by transit-time variations only and the increasing number of rocky planets with Earth-like density. Kepler-19 joins the small number of systems that reconcile transit timing variation and radial velocity measurements.The HARPS-N project was funded by the Prodex Program of the Swiss Space Office (SSO), the Harvard University Origin of Life Initiative (HUOLI), the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), the University of Geneva, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), the Italian National Astrophysical Institute (INAF), University of St. Andrews, Queen’s University Belfast, and University of Edinburgh. The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013) under grant agreement number 313014 (ETAEARTH). This work was performed in part under contract with the California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory funded by NASA through the Sagan Fellowship Program executed by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. A.V. is supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, grant No. DGE 1144152. This publication was made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by NASA under grant No. NNX15AC90G issued through the Exoplanets Research Program. P.F. acknowledges support by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through Investigador FCT contract of reference IF/01037/2013 and POPH/FSE (EC) by FEDER funding through the program “Programa Operacional de Factores de Competitividade—COMPETE”, and further support in the form of an exploratory project of reference IF/ 01037/2013CP1191/CT0001. X.D. is grateful to the Society in Science–Branco Weiss Fellowship for its financial support

The PLATO 2.0 mission

PLATO 2.0 has recently been selected for ESA's M3 launch opportunity (2022/24). Providing accurate key planet parameters (radius, mass, density and age) in statistical numbers, it addresses fundamental questions such as: How do planetary systems form and evolve? Are there other systems with planets like ours, including potentially habitable planets? The PLATO 2.0 instrument consists of 34 small aperture telescopes (32 with 25 s readout cadence and 2 with 2.5 s candence) providing a wide field-of-view (2232 deg 2) and a large photometric magnitude range (4-16 mag). It focusses on bright (4-11 mag) stars in wide fields to detect and characterize planets down to Earth-size by photometric transits, whose masses can then be determined by ground-based radial-velocity follow-up measurements. Asteroseismology will be performed for these bright stars to obtain highly accurate stellar parameters, including masses and ages. The combination of bright targets and asteroseismology results in high accuracy for the bulk planet parameters: 2 %, 4-10 % and 10 % for planet radii, masses and ages, respectively. The planned baseline observing strategy includes two long pointings (2-3 years) to detect and bulk characterize planets reaching into the habitable zone (HZ) of solar-like stars and an additional step-and-stare phase to cover in total about 50 % of the sky. PLATO 2.0 will observe up to 1,000,000 stars and detect and characterize hundreds of small planets, and thousands of planets in the Neptune to gas giant regime out to the HZ. It will therefore provide the first large-scale catalogue of bulk characterized planets with accurate radii, masses, mean densities and ages. This catalogue will include terrestrial planets at intermediate orbital distances, where surface temperatures are moderate. Coverage of this parameter range with statistical numbers of bulk characterized planets is unique to PLATO 2.0. The PLATO 2.0 catalogue allows us to e.g.: - complete our knowledge of planet diversity for low-mass objects, - correlate the planet mean density-orbital distance distribution with predictions from planet formation theories,- constrain the influence of planet migration and scattering on the architecture of multiple systems, and - specify how planet and system parameters change with host star characteristics, such as type, metallicity and age. The catalogue will allow us to study planets and planetary systems at different evolutionary phases. It will further provide a census for small, low-mass planets. This will serve to identify objects which retained their primordial hydrogen atmosphere and in general the typical characteristics of planets in such low-mass, low-density range. Planets detected by PLATO 2.0 will orbit bright stars and many of them will be targets for future atmosphere spectroscopy exploring their atmosphere. Furthermore, the mission has the potential to detect exomoons, planetary rings, binary and Trojan planets. The planetary science possible with PLATO 2.0 is complemented by its impact on stellar and galactic science via asteroseismology as well as light curves of all kinds of variable stars, together with observations of stellar clusters of different ages. This will allow us to improve stellar models and study stellar activity. A large number of well-known ages from red giant stars will probe the structure and evolution of our Galaxy. Asteroseismic ages of bright stars for different phases of stellar evolution allow calibrating stellar age-rotation relationships. Together with the results of ESA's Gaia mission, the results of PLATO 2.0 will provide a huge legacy to planetary, stellar and galactic science

Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914

A gravitational-wave (GW) transient was identified in data recorded by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on 2015 September 14. The event, initially designated G184098 and later given the name GW150914, is described in detail elsewhere. By prior arrangement, preliminary estimates of the time, significance, and sky location of the event were shared with 63 teams of observers covering radio, optical, near-infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths with ground- and space-based facilities. In this Letter we describe the low-latency analysis of the GW data and present the sky localization of the first observed compact binary merger. We summarize the follow-up observations reported by 25 teams via private Gamma-ray Coordinates Network circulars, giving an overview of the participating facilities, the GW sky localization coverage, the timeline, and depth of the observations. As this event turned out to be a binary black hole merger, there is little expectation of a detectable electromagnetic (EM) signature. Nevertheless, this first broadband campaign to search for a counterpart of an Advanced LIGO source represents a milestone and highlights the broad capabilities of the transient astronomy community and the observing strategies that have been developed to pursue neutron star binary merger events. Detailed investigations of the EM data and results of the EM follow-up campaign are being disseminated in papers by the individual teams

55 Cancri e's occultation captured with CHEOPS

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