Mass and period limits on the ringed companion transiting the young star J1407

The young (~16 Myr) pre-main-sequence star in Sco-Cen 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6, hereafter referred to as J1407, underwent a deep eclipse in 2007 April, bracketed by several shallower eclipses in the surrounding 54 d. This has been interpreted as the first detection of an eclipsing ring system circling a substellar object (dubbed J1407b). We report on a search for this companion with Sparse Aperture Mask imaging and direct imaging with both the UT4 VLT and Keck telescopes. Radial velocity measurements of J1407 provide additional constraints on J1407b and on short period companions to the central star. Follow-up photometric monitoring using the PROMPT-4 and ROAD observatories during 2012-2014 has not yielded any additional eclipses. Large regions of mass-period space are ruled out for the companion. For circular orbits the companion period is constrained to the range 3.5-13.8 yr (a ~ 2.2-5.6 au), and masses greater than 80 M_Jup are ruled out at 3 sigma significance over these periods. The complex ring system appears to occupy more than 0.15 of its Hill radius, much larger than its Roche radius and suggesting a ring structure in transition. Further, we demonstrate that the radial velocity of J1407 is consistent with membership in the Upper Cen-Lup subgroup of the Sco-Cen association, and constraints on the rotation period and projected rotational velocity of J1407 are consistent with a stellar inclination of 68+-10 degrees

An M dwarf accompanied by a close-in giant orbiter with SPECULOOS

In the last decade, a dozen close-in giant planets have been discovered orbiting stars with spectral types ranging from M0 to M4, a mystery since known formation pathways do not predict the existence of such systems. Here, we confirm TOI-4860 b, a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting an M4.5 host, a star at the transition between fully and partially convective interiors. First identified with TESS data, we validate the transiting companion’s planetary nature through multicolour photometry from the TRAPPIST-South/North, SPECULOOS, and MuSCAT3 facilities. Our analysis yields a radius of 0.76 ± 0.02 RJup for the planet, a mass of 0.34 M for the star, and an orbital period of 1.52 d. Using the newly commissioned SPIRIT InGaAs camera at the SPECULOOS-South Observatory, we collect infrared photometry in zYJ that spans the time of secondary eclipse. These observations do not detect a secondary eclipse, placing an upper limit on the brightness of the companion. The planetary nature of the companion is further confirmed through high-resolution spectroscopy obtained with the IRD spectrograph at Subaru Telescope, from which we measure a mass of 0.67 ± 0.14 MJup. Based on its overall density, TOI-4860 b appears to be rich in heavy elements, like its host star.ISSN:1745-3933ISSN:1745-392

Fundamental effective temperature measurements for eclipsing binary stars - III. SPIRou near-infrared spectroscopy and CHEOPS photometry of the benchmark G0V star EBLM J0113+31

EBLM J0113+31 is a moderately bright (V = 10.1), metal-poor ([Fe/H] approximate to-0.3) GOV star with a much fainter M dwarf companion on a wide, eccentric orbit (= 14.3 d). We have used near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with the SPIRou spectrograph to measure the semi-amplitude of the M dwarf's spectroscopic orbit, and high-precision photometry of the eclipse and transit from the CHEOPS and TESS space missions to measure the geometry of this binary system. From the combined analysis of these data together with previously published observations, we obtain the following model-independent masses and radii: M-1 = 1.029 +/- 0.025 M-circle dot, M-2 = 0.197 +/- 0.003 M-circle dot, R-1 = 1.417 +/- 0.014 R-circle dot, R-2 = 0.215 +/- 0.002 R-circle dot. Using R-1 and the parallax from Gaia EDR3 we find that this star's angular diameter is theta = 0.0745 +/- 0.0007 mas. The apparent bolometric flux of the GOV star corrected for both extinction and the contribution from the M dwarf (<0.2 per cent) is F-circle plus,F-0 = (2.62 +/- 0.05) x 10(-9) erg cm(-2) S-1. Hence, this G0V star has an effective temperature T-eff(,1) = 6124 K +/- 40 K (rnd.) +/- 10 K (sys.). EBLM J0113+31 is an ideal benchmark star that can be used for 'end-to-end' tests of the stellar parameters measured by large-scale spectroscopic surveys, or stellar parameters derived from asteroseismology with PLATO. The techniques developed here can be applied to many other eclipsing binaries in order to create a network of such benchmark stars.ISSN:0035-8711ISSN:1365-2966ISSN:1365-871