KELT-11b: A Highly Inflated Sub-Saturn Exoplanet Transiting the V=8 Subgiant HD 93396

We report the discovery of a transiting exoplanet, KELT-11b, orbiting the bright ($V=8.0$) subgiant HD 93396. A global analysis of the system shows that the host star is an evolved subgiant star with $T_{\rm eff} = 5370\pm51$ K, $M_{*} = 1.438_{-0.052}^{+0.061} M_{\odot}$, $R_{*} = 2.72_{-0.17}^{+0.21} R_{\odot}$, log $g_*= 3.727_{-0.046}^{+0.040}$, and [Fe/H]$= 0.180\pm0.075$. The planet is a low-mass gas giant in a $P = 4.736529\pm0.00006$ day orbit, with $M_{P} = 0.195\pm0.018 M_J$, $R_{P}= 1.37_{-0.12}^{+0.15} R_J$, $\rho_{P} = 0.093_{-0.024}^{+0.028}$ g cm$^{-3}$, surface gravity log ${g_{P}} = 2.407_{-0.086}^{+0.080}$, and equilibrium temperature $T_{eq} = 1712_{-46}^{+51}$ K. KELT-11 is the brightest known transiting exoplanet host in the southern hemisphere by more than a magnitude, and is the 6th brightest transit host to date. The planet is one of the most inflated planets known, with an exceptionally large atmospheric scale height (2763 km), and an associated size of the expected atmospheric transmission signal of 5.6%. These attributes make the KELT-11 system a valuable target for follow-up and atmospheric characterization, and it promises to become one of the benchmark systems for the study of inflated exoplanets.Comment: 15 pages, Submitted to AAS Journal

KELT-18b: Puffy Planet, Hot Host, Probably Perturbed

We report the discovery of KELT-18b, a transiting hot Jupiter in a 2.87-day orbit around the bright ( V = 10.1), hot, F4V star BD+60 1538 (TYC 3865-1173-1). We present follow-up photometry, spectroscopy, and adaptive optics imaging that allow a detailed characterization of the system. Our preferred model fits yield a host stellar temperature of K and a mass of , situating it as one of only a handful of known transiting planets with hosts that are as hot, massive, and bright. The planet has a mass of , a radius of , and a density of , making it one of the most inflated planets known around a hot star. We argue that KELT-18b’s high temperature and low surface gravity, which yield an estimated ∼600 km atmospheric scale height, combined with its hot, bright host, make it an excellent candidate for observations aimed at atmospheric characterization. We also present evidence for a bound stellar companion at a projected separation of ∼1100 au, and speculate that it may have contributed to the strong misalignment we suspect between KELT-18\u27s spin axis and its planet’s orbital axis. The inferior conjunction time is 2457542.524998 ± 0.000416 (BJD TDB ) and the orbital period is 2.8717510 ± 0.0000029 days. We encourage Rossiter–McLaughlin measurements in the near future to confirm the suspected spin–orbit misalignment of this system

A Giant Planet Undergoing Extreme-Ultraviolet Irradiation By Its Hot Massive-Star Host

The amount of ultraviolet irradiation and ablation experienced by a planet depends strongly on the temperature of its host star. Of the thousands of extrasolar planets now known, only six have been found that transit hot, A-type stars (with temperatures of 7,300–10,000 kelvin), and no planets are known to transit the even hotter B-type stars. For example, WASP-33 is an A-type star with a temperature of about 7,430 kelvin, which hosts the hottest known transiting planet, WASP-33b (ref. 1); the planet is itself as hot as a red dwarf star of type M (ref. 2). WASP-33b displays a large heat differential between its dayside and nightside2, and is highly inflated–traits that have been linked to high insolation3,4. However, even at the temperature of its dayside, its atmosphere probably resembles the molecule-dominated atmospheres of other planets and, given the level of ultraviolet irradiation it experiences, its atmosphere is unlikely to be substantially ablated over the lifetime of its star. Here we report observations of the bright star HD 195689 (also known as KELT-9), which reveal a close-in (orbital period of about 1.48 days) transiting giant planet, KELT-9b. At approximately 10,170 kelvin, the host star is at the dividing line between stars of type A and B, and we measure the dayside temperature of KELT-9b to be about 4,600 kelvin. This is as hot as stars of stellar type K4 (ref. 5). The molecules in K stars are entirely dissociated, and so the primary sources of opacity in the dayside atmosphere of KELT-9b are probably atomic metals. Furthermore, KELT-9b receives 700 times more extreme-ultraviolet radiation (that is, with wavelengths shorter than 91.2 nanometres) than WASP-33b, leading to a predicted range of mass-loss rates that could leave the planet largely stripped of its envelope during the main-sequence lifetime of the host star (ref. 6)

First radial velocity results from the MINiature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA)

The MINiature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA) is a dedicated observatory of four 0.7m robotic telescopes fiber-fed to a KiwiSpec spectrograph. The MINERVA mission is to discover super-Earths in the habitable zones of nearby stars. This can be accomplished with MINERVA's unique combination of high precision and high cadence over long time periods. In this work, we detail changes to the MINERVA facility that have occurred since our previous paper. We then describe MINERVA's robotic control software, the process by which we perform 1D spectral extraction, and our forward modeling Doppler pipeline. In the process of improving our forward modeling procedure, we found that our spectrograph's intrinsic instrumental profile is stable for at least nine months. Because of that, we characterized our instrumental profile with a time-independent, cubic spline function based on the profile in the cross dispersion direction, with which we achieved a radial velocity precision similar to using a conventional "sum-of-Gaussians" instrumental profile: 1.8 m s$^{-1}$ over 1.5 months on the RV standard star HD 122064. Therefore, we conclude that the instrumental profile need not be perfectly accurate as long as it is stable. In addition, we observed 51 Peg and our results are consistent with the literature, confirming our spectrograph and Doppler pipeline are producing accurate and precise radial velocities.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, submitted to PASP, Peer-Reviewed and Accepte

Photodynamical analysis of the triply eclipsing hierarchical triple system EPIC 249432662

Using Campaign 15 data from the K2 mission, we have discovered a triply eclipsing triple star system: EPIC 249432662. The inner eclipsing binary system has a period of 8.23 d, with shallow ∼3 per cent eclipses. During the entire 80-d campaign, there is also a single eclipse event of a third body in the system that reaches a depth of nearly 50 per cent and has a total duration of 1.7 d, longer than for any previously known third-body eclipse involving unevolved stars. The binary eclipses exhibit clear eclipse timing variations. A combination of photodynamical modeling of the light curve, as well as seven follow-up radial velocity measurements, has led to a prediction of the subsequent eclipses of the third star with a period of 188 d. A campaign of follow-up ground-based photometry was able to capture the subsequent pair of third-body events as well as two further 8-d eclipses. A combined photo-spectro-dynamical analysis then leads to the determination of many of the system parameters. The 8-d binary consists of a pair of M stars, while most of the system light is from a K star around which the pair of M stars orbits

Vetting of 384 TESS Objects of Interest with TRICERATOPS and Statistical Validation of 12 Planet Candidates

We present TRICERATOPS, a new Bayesian tool that can be used to vet and validate TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs). We test the tool on 68 TOIs that have been previously confirmed as planets or rejected as astrophysical false positives. By looking in the false positive probability (FPP) -- nearby false positive probability (NFPP) plane, we define criteria that TOIs must meet to be classified as validated planets (FPP < 0.015 and NFPP < 10^-3), likely planets (FPP 10^-1). We apply this procedure on 384 unclassified TOIs and statistically validate 12, classify 125 as likely planets, and classify 52 as likely nearby false positives. Of the 12 statistically validated planets, 9 are newly validated. TRICERATOPS is currently the only TESS vetting and validation tool that models transits from nearby contaminant stars in addition to the target star. We therefore encourage use of this tool to prioritize follow-up observations that confirm bona fide planets and identify false positives originating from nearby stars.Comment: Accepted to A

TOI-733 b -- a planet in the small-planet radius valley orbiting a Sun-like star

We report the discovery of a hot ($T_{\rm eq}$ $\approx$ 1055 K) planet in the small planet radius valley transiting the Sun-like star TOI-733, as part of the KESPRINT follow-up program of TESS planets carried out with the HARPS spectrograph. TESS photometry from sectors 9 and 36 yields an orbital period of $P_{\rm orb}$ = $4.884765 _{ - 2.4e-5 } ^ { + 1.9e-5 }$ days and a radius of $R_{\mathrm{p}}$ = $1.992 _{ - 0.090 } ^ { + 0.085 }$ $R_{\oplus}$. Multi-dimensional Gaussian process modelling of the radial velocity measurements from HARPS and activity indicators, gives a semi-amplitude of $K$ = $2.23 \pm 0.26$ m s$^{-1}$, translating into a planet mass of $M_{\mathrm{p}}$ = $5.72 _{ - 0.68 } ^ { + 0.70 }$ $M_{\oplus}$. These parameters imply that the planet is of moderate density ($\rho_\mathrm{p}$ = $3.98 _{ - 0.66 } ^ { + 0.77 }$ g cm$^{-3}$) and place it in the transition region between rocky and volatile-rich planets with H/He-dominated envelopes on the mass-radius diagram. Combining these with stellar parameters and abundances, we calculate planet interior and atmosphere models, which in turn suggest that TOI-733 b has a volatile-enriched, most likely secondary outer envelope, and may represent a highly irradiated ocean world - one of only a few such planets around G-type stars that are well-characterised.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&