A nearby M Star with tree Transitting Supter-Earths Discovered by K2

Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Petigura, Erik; Schlieder, Joshua E.; Howard, Andrew W.; Fulton, B. J.; Aller, Kimberly M.; Ciardi, David R.; Lepine, Sebastien; Barclay, Thomas; De Pater, Imke; De Kleer, Katherine; Quintana, Elisa V.; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Schlafly, Eddie; Kaltenegger, Lisa; Crepp, Justin R.; Henning, Thomas; Obermeier, Christian; Deacon, Niall; Weiss, Lauren M.; ... (2015). A nearby M Star with tree Transitting Supter-Earths Discovered by K2. Astrophysical journal, 804(1), p. 10. Institute of Physics Publishing IOP 10.1088/0004-637x/804/1/10

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Small, cool planets represent the typical end-products of planetary formation. Studying the architectures of these systems, measuring planet masses and radii, and observing these planets' atmospheres during transit directly informs theories of planet assembly, migration, and evolution. Here we report the discovery of three small planets orbiting a bright (K-s = 8.6 mag) M0 dwarf using data collected as part of K2, the new ecliptic survey using the repurposed Kepler spacecraft. Stellar spectroscopy and K2 photometry indicate that the system hosts three transiting planets with radii 1.5-2.1 R-circle plus, straddling the transition region between rocky and increasingly volatile-dominated compositions. With orbital periods of 10-45 days the planets receive just 1.5-10x the flux incident on Earth, making these some of the coolest small planets known orbiting a nearby star; planet d is located near the inner edge of the system's habitable zone. The bright, low-mass star makes this system an excellent laboratory to determine the planets' masses via Doppler spectroscopy and to constrain their atmospheric compositions via transit spectroscopy. This discovery demonstrates the ability of K2 and future space-based transit searches to find many fascinating objects of interest.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Space Research and Planetary Sciences

UniBE Contributor:

Mordasini, Christoph

Subjects:

500 Science > 520 Astronomy
500 Science > 530 Physics

ISSN:

0004-637X

Publisher:

Institute of Physics Publishing IOP

Language:

English

Submitter:

Katharina Weyeneth-Moser

Date Deposited:

17 Jun 2016 11:06

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:56

Publisher DOI:

10.1088/0004-637x/804/1/10

Web of Science ID:

000354189500010

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.81947

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/81947

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