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Blueprints for Medieval hydroclimate
According to tree ring and other records, a series of severe droughts that lasted for decades afflicted western North America during the Medieval period resulting in a more arid climate than in subsequent centuries. A review of proxy evidence from around the world indicates that North American megadroughts were part of a global pattern of Medieval hydroclimate that was distinct from that of today. In particular, the Medieval hydroclimate was wet in northern South America, dry in mid-latitude South America, dry in eastern Africa but with strong Nile River floods and a strong Indian monsoon. This pattern is similar to that accompanying persistent North American droughts in the instrumental era. This pattern is compared to that associated with familiar climate phenomena. The best fit comes from a persistently La Nin ̃ a-like tropical Pacific and the warm phase of the so-called Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. A positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) also helps to explain the Medieval hydroclimate pattern. Limited sea surface temperature reconstructions support the contention that the tropical Pacific was cold and the subtropical North Atlantic was warm, ideal conditions for North American drought. Tentative modeling results indicate that a multi-century La Nina-like state could have arisen as a coupled atmosphere–ocean response to high irradiance and weak volcanism during the Medieval period and that this could in turn have induced a persistently positive NAO state. A La Nina-like state could also induce a strengthening of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, and hence warming of the North Atlantic Ocean, by (i) the ocean response to the positive NAO and by shifting the southern mid-latitude westerlies poleward which (ii) will increase the salt flux from the Indian Ocean into the South Atlantic and (iii) drive stronger Southern Ocean upwelling
A TESS Dress Rehearsal: Planetary Candidates and Variables from K2 Campaign 17T
We produce light curves for all ∼34,000 targets observed with K2 in Campaign 17 (C17), identifying 34 planet candidates, 184 eclipsing binaries, and other 222 periodic variables. The forward-facing direction of the C17 field means follow-up can begin immediately now that the campaign has concluded and interesting targets have been identified. The C17 field has a large overlap with C6, so this latest campaign also offers an infrequent opportunity to study a large number of targets already observed in a previous K2 campaign. The timing of the C17 data release, shortly before science operations begin with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), also lets us exercise some of the tools and methods developed for identification and dissemination of planet candidates from TESS. We find excellent agreement between these results and those identified using only K2-based tools. Among our planet candidates are several planet candidates with sizes <4 R[subscript ⊕] and orbiting stars with Kp ≲ 10 (indicating good RV targets of the sort TESS hopes to find) and a Jupiter-sized single-transit event around a star already hosting a 6 day planet candidate. Key words: methods, data analysis, planets and satellites, detection – techniques, photometricUnited States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (K2GO Grant 80NSSC18K0308
TOI 540 b: A Planet Smaller than Earth Orbiting a Nearby Rapidly Rotating Low-mass Star
We present the discovery of TOI 540 b, a hot planet slightly smaller than
Earth orbiting the low-mass star 2MASS J05051443-4756154. The planet has an
orbital period of days ( 170 ms) and a radius of , and is likely terrestrial based on the observed
mass-radius distribution of small exoplanets at similar insolations. The star
is 14.008 pc away and we estimate its mass and radius to be and , respectively. The
star is distinctive in its very short rotational period of hours and correspondingly small Rossby number of 0.007 as
well as its high X-ray-to-bolometric luminosity ratio of based on a serendipitous XMM-Newton detection during a slew operation.
This is consistent with the X-ray emission being observed at a maximum value of
as predicted for the most rapidly rotating M
dwarfs. TOI 540 b may be an alluring target to study atmospheric erosion due to
the strong stellar X-ray emission. It is also among the most accessible targets
for transmission and emission spectroscopy and eclipse photometry with JWST,
and may permit Doppler tomography with high-resolution spectroscopy during
transit. This discovery is based on precise photometric data from TESS and
ground-based follow-up observations by the MEarth team.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astronomical
Journa
TESS Giants Transiting Giants V -- Two hot Jupiters orbiting red-giant hosts
In this work we present the discovery and confirmation of two hot Jupiters
orbiting red-giant stars, TOI-4377 b and TOI-4551 b, observed by TESS in the
southern ecliptic hemisphere and later followed-up with radial-velocity (RV)
observations. For TOI-4377 b we report a mass of $0.957^{+0.089}_{-0.087} \
M_\mathrm{J}1.348 \pm 0.081 \ R_\mathrm{J}1.36 \ \mathrm{M}_\odot3.52 \
\mathrm{R}_\odot4.3781.49 \pm 0.13 \ M_\mathrm{J}1.058^{+0.110}_{-0.062} \ R_\mathrm{J}1.31 \ \mathrm{M}_\odot3.55 \
\mathrm{R}_\odot9.9561.91 \pm 0.48\%2.19 \pm 0.45\%$ for
TOI-4377 b and TOI-4551 b respectively. These values are in line with the known
population of hot Jupiters, including hot Jupiters orbiting main sequence
hosts, which suggests that the radii of our planets have reinflated in step
with their parent star's brightening as they evolved into the
post-main-sequence. Finally, we evaluate the potential to observe orbital decay
in both systems.Comment: 14 pages with 8 figures and 6 tables. Accepted for publication in the
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ
Separated twins or just siblings? A multi-planet system around an M dwarf including a cool sub-Neptune
We report the discovery of two TESS sub-Neptunes orbiting the early M dwarf
TOI-904 (TIC 261257684). Both exoplanets, TOI-904 b and c, were initially
observed in TESS sector 12 with twin sizes of 2.49R and
2.31R, respectively. Through observations in five additional sectors
in the TESS primary mission and the first and second extended missions, the
orbital periods of both planets were measured to be 10.8870.001 and
83.9990.001 days, respectively. Reconnaissance radial velocity
measurements (taken with EULER/CORALIE) and high resolution speckle imaging
with adaptive optics (obtained from SOAR/HRCAM and Gemini South/ZORRO) show no
evidence of an eclipsing binary or a nearby companion, which together with the
low false positive probabilities calculated with the statistical validation
software TRICERATOPS establish the planetary nature of these candidates. The
outer planet, TOI-904 c, is the longest-period M dwarf exoplanet found by TESS,
with an estimated equilibrium temperature of 217K. As the three other validated
planets with comparable host stars and orbital periods were observed by Kepler
around much dimmer stars (J 12), TOI-904 c, orbiting a brighter
star (J 9.6), is the coldest M dwarf planet easily accessible for
atmospheric follow-up. Future mass measurements and transmission spectroscopy
of the similar sized planets in this system could determine whether they are
also similar in density and composition, suggesting a common formation pathway,
or whether they have distinct origins.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal Letter
TESS Discovery of Twin Planets near 2:1 Resonance around Early M-Dwarf TOI 4342
With data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we showcase
improvements to the MIT Quick-Look Pipeline (QLP) through the discovery and
validation of a multi-planet system around M-dwarf TOI 4342 (,
, , K,
pc). With updates to QLP, including a new multi-planet search, as well as
faster cadence data from TESS' First Extended Mission, we discovered two
sub-Neptunes ( and ; = 5.538 days and = 10.689 days)
and validated them with ground-based photometry, spectra, and speckle imaging.
Both planets notably have high transmission spectroscopy metrics (TSMs) of 36
and 32, making TOI 4342 one of the best systems for comparative atmospheric
studies. This system demonstrates how improvements to QLP, along with faster
cadence Full-Frame Images (FFIs), can lead to the discovery of new multi-planet
systems.Comment: accepted for publication in A
Tropical Pacific Ocean response to observed winds in a layered general circulation model
TOI-5126: A hot super-Neptune and warm Neptune pair discovered by and
We present the confirmation of a hot super-Neptune with an exterior Neptune
companion orbiting a bright (V = 10.1 mag) F-dwarf identified by the
(). The two
planets, observed in sectors 45, 46 and 48 of the extended
mission, are and
with d and
d orbital periods, respectively. We also obtained
precise space based photometric follow-up of the system with ESAs
() to constrain
the radius and ephemeris of TOI-5126 b. TOI 5126 b is located in the "hot
Neptune Desert" and is an ideal candidate for follow-up transmission
spectroscopy due to its high predicted equilibrium temperature ( K) implying a cloud-free atmosphere. TOI-5126 c is a warm
Neptune ( K) also suitable for follow-up. Tentative
transit timing variations (TTVs) have also been identified in analysis,
suggesting the presence of at least one additional planet, however this signal
may be caused by spot-crossing events, necessitating further precise
photometric follow-up to confirm these signals.Comment: Accepted in MNRAS, 18 pages, 14 figure
TESS discovery of a super-Earth and two sub-Neptunes orbiting the bright, nearby, Sun-like star HD 22946
We report the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) discovery of a
three-planet system around the bright Sun-like star HD~22946(V=8.3 mag),also
known as TIC~100990000, located 63 parsecs away.The system was observed by TESS
in Sectors 3, 4, 30 and 31 and two planet candidates, labelled TESS Objects of
Interest (TOIs) 411.01 (planet ) and 411.02 (planet ), were identified on
orbits of 9.57 and 4.04 days, respectively. In this work, we validate the two
planets and recover an additional single transit-like signal in the light
curve, which suggests the presence of a third transiting planet with a longer
period of about 46 days.We assess the veracity of the TESS transit signals and
use follow-up imaging and time series photometry to rule out false positive
scenarios, including unresolved binary systems, nearby eclipsing binaries or
background/foreground stars contaminating the light curves. Parallax
measurements from Gaia EDR3, together with broad-band photometry and
spectroscopic follow-up by TFOP allowed us to constrain the stellar parameters
of TOI-411, including its radius of. Adopting this value,
we determined the radii for the three exoplanet candidates and found that
planet is a super-Earth, with a radius of , while
planet and are sub-Neptunian planets, with radii
of and respectively. By using
dynamical simulations, we assessed the stability of the system and evaluated
the possibility of the presence of other undetected, non-transiting planets by
investigating its dynamical packing. We find that the system is dynamically
stable and potentially unpacked, with enough space to host at least one more
planet between and .(Abridged)Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication on A&
TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME) IX: a 27 Myr extended population of Lower-Centaurus Crux with a transiting two-planet system
We report the discovery and characterization of a nearby (~ 85 pc), older (27
+/- 3 Myr), distributed stellar population near Lower-Centaurus-Crux (LCC),
initially identified by searching for stars co-moving with a candidate
transiting planet from TESS (HD 109833; TOI 1097). We determine the association
membership using Gaia kinematics, color-magnitude information, and rotation
periods of candidate members. We measure it's age using isochrones,
gyrochronology, and Li depletion. While the association is near known
populations of LCC, we find that it is older than any previously found LCC
sub-group (10-16 Myr), and distinct in both position and velocity. In addition
to the candidate planets around HD 109833 the association contains four
directly-imaged planetary-mass companions around 3 stars, YSES-1, YSES-2, and
HD 95086, all of which were previously assigned membership in the younger LCC.
Using the Notch pipeline, we identify a second candidate transiting planet
around HD 109833. We use a suite of ground-based follow-up observations to
validate the two transit signals as planetary in nature. HD 109833 b and c join
the small but growing population of <100 Myr transiting planets from TESS. HD
109833 has a rotation period and Li abundance indicative of a young age (< 100
Myr), but a position and velocity on the outskirts of the new population, lower
Li levels than similar members, and a CMD position below model predictions for
27 Myr. So, we cannot reject the possibility that HD 109833 is a young field
star coincidentally nearby the population.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in A
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