A Radial Velocity Study of the Planetary System of pi Mensae: Improved Planet Parameters for pi Mensae c and a Third Planet on a 125 Day Orbit

π Men hosts a transiting planet detected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite space mission and an outer planet in a 5.7 yr orbit discovered by radial velocity (RV) surveys. We studied this system using new RV measurements taken with the HARPS spectrograph on ESO's 3.6 m telescope, as well as archival data. We constrain the stellar RV semiamplitude due to the transiting planet, π Men c, as Kc = 1.21 ± 0.12 m s^{−1}, resulting in a planet mass of M_{c} = 3.63 ± 0.38 M_{⊕}. A planet radius of R_{c} = 2.145 ± 0.015 R_{⊕} yields a bulk density of ρc = 2.03 ± 0.22 g cm^{−3}. The precisely determined density of this planet and the brightness of the host star make π Men c an excellent laboratory for internal structure and atmospheric characterization studies. Our HARPS RV measurements also reveal compelling evidence for a third body, π Men d, with a minimum mass M_{d} sin i_{d} = 13.38 ± 1.35 M_{⊕} orbiting with a period of Porb,d = 125 days on an eccentric orbit (e_{d} = 0.22). A simple dynamical analysis indicates that the orbit of π Men d is stable on timescales of at least 20 Myr. Given the mutual inclination between the outer gaseous giant and the inner rocky planet and the presence of a third body at 125 days, π Men is an important planetary system for dynamical and formation studies

Hematological Changes as Prognostic Indicators of Survival: Similarities Between Gottingen Minipigs, Humans, and Other Large Animal Models

The animal efficacy rule addressing development of drugs for selected disease categories has pointed out the need to develop alternative large animal models. Based on this rule, the pathophysiology of the disease in the animal model must be well characterized and must reflect that in humans. So far, manifestations of the acute radiation syndrome (ARS) have been extensively studied only in two large animal models, the non-human primate (NHP) and the canine. We are evaluating the suitability of the minipig as an additional large animal model for development of radiation countermeasures. We have previously shown that the Gottingen minipig manifests hematopoietic ARS phases and symptoms similar to those observed in canines, NHPs, and humans.We establish here the LD50/30 dose (radiation dose at which 50% of the animals succumb within 30 days), and show that at this dose the time of nadir and the duration of cytopenia resemble those observed for NHP and canines, and mimic closely the kinetics of blood cell depletion and recovery in human patients with reversible hematopoietic damage (H3 category, METREPOL approach). No signs of GI damage in terms of diarrhea or shortening of villi were observed at doses up to 1.9 Gy. Platelet counts at days 10 and 14, number of days to reach critical platelet values, duration of thrombocytopenia, neutrophil stress response at 3 hours and count at 14 days, and CRP-to-platelet ratio were correlated with survival. The ratios between neutrophils, lymphocytes and platelets were significantly correlated with exposure to irradiation at different time intervals.As a non-rodent animal model, the minipig offers a useful alternative to NHP and canines, with attractive features including ARS resembling human ARS, cost, and regulatory acceptability. Use of the minipig may allow accelerated development of radiation countermeasures

A low-eccentricity migration pathway for a 13-h-period Earth analogue in a four-planet system

It is commonly accepted that exoplanets with orbital periods shorter than one day, also known as ultra-short-period (USP) planets, formed further out within their natal protoplanetary disks before migrating to their current-day orbits via dynamical interactions. One of the most accepted theories suggests a violent scenario involving high-eccentricity migration followed by tidal circularization. Here we present the discovery of a four-planet system orbiting the bright (V = 10.5) K6 dwarf star TOI-500. The innermost planet is a transiting, Earth-sized USP planet with an orbital period of ~13 hours, a mass of 1.42 ± 0.18 M⊕, a radius of 1.166−0.058+0.061R⊕ and a mean density of 4.89−0.88+1.03gcm−3. Via Doppler spectroscopy, we discovered that the system hosts 3 outer planets on nearly circular orbits with periods of 6.6, 26.2 and 61.3 days and minimum masses of 5.03 ± 0.41 M⊕, 33.12 ± 0.88 M⊕ and 15.05−1.11+1.12M⊕, respectively. The presence of both a USP planet and a low-mass object on a 6.6-day orbit indicates that the architecture of this system can be explained via a scenario in which the planets started on low-eccentricity orbits then moved inwards through a quasi-static secular migration. Our numerical simulations show that this migration channel can bring TOI-500 b to its current location in 2 Gyr, starting from an initial orbit of 0.02 au. TOI-500 is the first four-planet system known to host a USP Earth analogue whose current architecture can be explained via a non-violent migration scenario

The TESS-Keck Survey. XI. Mass Measurements for Four Transiting sub-Neptunes orbiting K dwarf TOI-1246

Multi-planet systems are valuable arenas for investigating exoplanet architectures and comparing planetary siblings. TOI-1246 is one such system, with a moderately bright K dwarf (V=11.6, K=9.9) and four transiting sub-Neptunes identified by TESS with orbital periods of 4.31 d, 5.90 d, 18.66 d, and 37.92 d. We collected 130 radial velocity observations with Keck/HIRES and TNG/HARPS-N to measure planet masses. We refit the 14 sectors of TESS photometry to refine planet radii (2.97±0.06 R⊕,2.47±0.08 R⊕,3.46±0.09 R⊕, 3.72±0.16 R⊕), and confirm the four planets. We find that TOI-1246 e is substantially more massive than the three inner planets (8.1±1.1M⊕, 8.8±1.2M⊕, 5.3±1.7M⊕, 14.8±2.3M⊕). The two outer planets, TOI-1246 d and TOI-1246 e, lie near to the 2:1 resonance (Pe/Pd=2.03) and exhibit transit timing variations. TOI-1246 is one of the brightest four-planet systems, making it amenable for continued observations. It is one of only six systems with measured masses and radii for all four transiting planets. The planet densities range from 0.70±0.24 to 3.21±0.44g/cm3, implying a range of bulk and atmospheric compositions. We also report a fifth planet candidate found in the RV data with a minimum mass of 25.6 ± 3.6 M⊕. This planet candidate is exterior to TOI-1246 e with a candidate period of 93.8 d, and we discuss the implications if it is confirmed to be planetary in nature

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