Search

We statistically validated a sample of hot Neptune candidates applying a two-step vetting technique using DAVE and TRICERATOPS. We performed a systematic validation of 250 transit-like events in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) archive in the parameter region defined by $P\leq 4$ d and $3R_\oplus\leq R\leq 5R_\oplus$. Through our analysis, we identified 18 hot Neptune-sized candidates, with a false positive probability $, 24 pages, 20 figures. Accepted for publication on MNRAS

Full list of authors: Reefe, Michael A.; Luque, Rafael; Gaidos, Eric; Beard, Corey; Plavchan, Peter P.; Cointepas, Marion; Cale, Bryson L.; Palle, Enric; Parviainen, Hannu; Feliz, Dax L.; Eastman, Jason; Stassun, Keivan; Gagné, Jonathan; Jenkins, Jon M.; Boyd, Patricia T.; Kidwell, Richard C.; McDermott, Scott; Collins, Karen A.; Fong, William; Guerrero, Natalia; Almenara-Villa, Jose-Manuel; Bean, Jacob; Beichman, Charles A.; Berberian, John; Bieryla, Allyson; Bonfils, Xavier; Bouchy, François; Brady, Madison; Bryant, Edward M.; Cacciapuoti, Luca; Cañas, Caleb I.; Ciardi, David R.; Collins, Kevin I.; Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Dressing, Courtney D.; Eigmüller, Philipp; El Mufti, Mohammed; Esparza-Borges, Emma; Fukui, Akihiko; Gao, Peter; Geneser, Claire; Gnilka, Crystal L.; Gonzales, Erica; Gupta, Arvind F.; Halverson, Sam; Hearty, Fred; Howell, Steve B.; Irwin, Jonathan; Kanodia, Shubham; Kasper, David; Kodama, Takanori; Kostov, Veselin; Latham, David W.; Lendl, Monika; Lin, Andrea; Livingston, John H.; Lubin, Jack; Mahadevan, Suvrath; Matson, Rachel; Matthews, Elisabeth; Murgas, Felipe; Narita, Norio; Newman, Patrick; Ninan, Joe; Osborn, Ares; Quinn, Samuel N.; Robertson, Paul; Roy, Arpita; Schlieder, Joshua; Schwab, Christian; Seifahrt, Andreas; Smith, Gareth D.; Sohani, Ahmad; Stefánsson, Guðmundur; Stevens, Daniel; Stürmer, Julian; Tanner, Angelle; Terrien, Ryan; Teske, Johanna; Vermilion, David; Wang, Sharon X.; Wittrock, Justin; Wright, Jason T.; Zechmeister, Mathias; Zohrabi, Farzaneh.--This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., We present the validation of a transiting low-density exoplanet orbiting the M2.5 dwarf TOI 620 discovered by the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. We utilize photometric data from both TESS and ground-based follow-up observations to validate the ephemerides of the 5.09 day transiting signal and vet false-positive scenarios. High-contrast imaging data are used to resolve the stellar host and exclude stellar companions at separations ≳0farcs2. We obtain follow-up spectroscopy and corresponding precise radial velocities (RVs) with multiple precision radial velocity (PRV) spectrographs to confirm the planetary nature of the transiting exoplanet. We calculate a 5σ upper limit of MP < 7.1 M⊕ and ρP < 0.74 g cm−3, and we identify a nontransiting 17.7 day candidate. We also find evidence for a substellar (1–20 MJ) companion with a projected separation ≲20 au from a combined analysis of Gaia, adaptive optics imaging, and RVs. With the discovery of this outer companion, we carry out a detailed exploration of the possibilities that TOI 620 b might instead be a circum-secondary planet or a pair of eclipsing binary stars orbiting the host in a hierarchical triple system. We find, under scrutiny, that we can exclude both of these scenarios from the multiwavelength transit photometry, thus validating TOI 620 b as a low-density exoplanet transiting the central star in this system. The low density of TOI 620 b makes it one of the most amenable exoplanets for atmospheric characterization, such as with the James Webb Space Telescope and Ariel, validated or confirmed by the TESS mission to date. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society., M.A.R. and P.P.P. acknowledge support from NASA (Exoplanet Research Program Award #80NSSC20K0251, TESS Cycle 3 Guest Investigator Program Award #80NSSC21K0349, JPL Research and Technology Development, and Keck Observatory Data Analysis) and the NSF (Astronomy and Astrophysics grant Nos. 1716202 and 2006517), and the Mt Cuba Astronomical Foundation. R.L. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, through project PID2019-109522GB-C52, and the Centre of Excellence "Severo Ochoa" award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). This work is partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant No. P17H04574, JP18H05439, JP20K14518, JP21K13975, JST CREST grant No. JPMJCR1761, and the Astrobiology Center of National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) (grant Nos. AB022006, AB031010, AB031014). This work is partly financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness through grant No. PGC2018-098153-B-C31. V.K. gratefully acknowledges support from NASA via grant No. NNX17AF81G. M.L. acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant No. PCEFP2_194576. The contribution of M.L. has been carried out within the framework of the NCCR PlanetS supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. C.I.C. acknowledges support by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program through grant No. 80NSSC18K1114. NEID is funded by NASA/JPL under contract 1547612. We acknowledge support from NSF grant Nos. AST-190950 and 1910954.

We present the TESS discovery of the LHS 1678 (TOI-696) exoplanet system, comprised of two approximately Earth-sized transiting planets and a likely astrometric brown dwarf orbiting a bright ($V_J$=12.5, $K_s$=8.3) M2 dwarf at 19.9 pc. The two TESS-detected planets are of radius 0.70$\pm$0.04 $R_\oplus$ and 0.98$\pm$0.06 $R_\oplus$ in 0.86-day and 3.69-day orbits, respectively. Both planets are validated and characterized via ground-based follow-up observations. HARPS RV monitoring yields 97.7 percentile mass upper limits of 0.35 $M_\oplus$ and 1.4 $M_\oplus$ for planets b and c, respectively. The astrometric companion detected by the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9m has an orbital period on the order of decades and is undetected by other means. Additional ground-based observations constrain the companion to being a high-mass brown dwarf or smaller. Each planet is of unique interest; the inner planet has an ultra-short period, and the outer planet is in the Venus zone. Both are promising targets for atmospheric characterization with the JWST and mass measurements via extreme-precision radial velocity. A third planet candidate of radius 0.9$\pm$0.1 $R_\oplus$ in a 4.97-day orbit is also identified in multi-Cycle TESS data for validation in future work. The host star is associated with an observed gap in the lower main sequence of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. This gap is tied to the transition from partially- to fully-convective interiors in M dwarfs, and the effect of the associated stellar astrophysics on exoplanet evolution is currently unknown. The culmination of these system properties makes LHS 1678 a unique, compelling playground for comparative exoplanet science and understanding the formation and evolution of small, short-period exoplanets orbiting low-mass stars., Published in The Astronomical Journal (31 pages, 21 figures, 11 tables, 3 appendices)

The James Webb Space Telescope will be able to probe the atmospheres and surface properties of hot, terrestrial planets via emission spectroscopy. We identify 18 potentially terrestrial planet candidates detected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) that would make ideal targets for these observations. These planet candidates cover a broad range of planet radii (R p ∼ 0.6–2.0R ⊕) and orbit stars of various magnitudes (K s = 5.78–10.78, V = 8.4–15.69) and effective temperatures (T eff ∼ 3000–6000 K). We use ground-based observations collected through the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) and two vetting tools—DAVE and TRICERATOPS—to assess the reliabilities of these candidates as planets. We validate 13 planets: TOI-206 b, TOI-500 b, TOI-544 b, TOI-833 b, TOI-1075 b, TOI-1411 b, TOI-1442 b, TOI-1693 b, TOI-1860 b, TOI-2260 b, TOI-2411 b, TOI-2427 b, and TOI-2445 b. Seven of these planets (TOI-206 b, TOI-500 b, TOI-1075 b, TOI-1442 b, TOI-2260 b, TOI-2411 b, and TOI-2445 b) are ultra-short-period planets. TOI-1860 is the youngest (133 ± 26 Myr) solar twin with a known planet to date. TOI-2260 is a young (321 ± 96 Myr) G dwarf that is among the most metal-rich ([Fe/H] = 0.22 ± 0.06 dex) stars to host an ultra-short-period planet. With an estimated equilibrium temperature of ∼2600 K, TOI-2260 b is also the fourth hottest known planet with R p < 2 R ⊕.

We initiated a deep-imaging survey of Scorpius-Centaurus A-F stars with predicted warm inner and cold outer belts of debris reminiscent of the architecture of emblematic systems such as HR 8799. We present resolved SPHERE images of a narrow ring of debris around the F5-type star HD 141011 that was observed as part of our survey in 2015, 2016, and 2019. The ring extends up to ~1.1" (~141 au) from the star in the IRDIS and IFS data obtained in 2016 and 2019. The disk is not detected in the 2015 data which are of poorer quality. The disks is best reproduced by models of a noneccentric ring centered on the star with an inclination of $69.1\pm0.9^{\circ}$, a position angle of $-24.6 \pm 1.7^{\circ}$, and a semimajor axis of $127.5\pm3.8$ au. The combination of radial velocity and imaging data excludes brown-dwarf (M>13.6 MJup) companions coplanar with the disk from 0.1 to 0.9 au and from 20 au up to 500 au (90% probability). HD 141011 adds to the growing list of debris disks that are resolved in Sco-Cen. It is one of the faintest disks that are resolved from the ground and has a radial extent and fractional width ($\sim$12.5%) reminiscent of Fomalhaut. Its moderate inclination and large semimajor axis make it a good target for the James Webb Space Telescope and should allow a deeper search for putative companions shaping the dust distribution., 13 pages, 10 figures. Paper II of our Sco-Cen imaging survey. Accepted in A&A

We present the bright (V$_{mag} = 9.12$), multi-planet system TOI-431, characterised with photometry and radial velocities. We estimate the stellar rotation period to be $30.5 \pm 0.7$ days using archival photometry and radial velocities. TOI-431b is a super-Earth with a period of 0.49 days, a radius of 1.28 $\pm$ 0.04 R$_{\oplus}$, a mass of $3.07 \pm 0.35$ M$_{\oplus}$, and a density of $8.0 \pm 1.0$ g cm$^{-3}$; TOI-431d is a sub-Neptune with a period of 12.46 days, a radius of $3.29 \pm 0.09$ R$_{\oplus}$, a mass of $9.90^{+1.53}_{-1.49}$ M$_{\oplus}$, and a density of $1.36 \pm 0.25$ g cm$^{-3}$. We find a third planet, TOI-431c, in the HARPS radial velocity data, but it is not seen to transit in the TESS light curves. It has an $M \sin i$ of $2.83^{+0.41}_{-0.34}$ M$_{\oplus}$, and a period of 4.85 days. TOI-431d likely has an extended atmosphere and is one of the most well-suited TESS discoveries for atmospheric characterisation, while the super-Earth TOI-431b may be a stripped core. These planets straddle the radius gap, presenting an interesting case-study for atmospheric evolution, and TOI-431b is a prime TESS discovery for the study of rocky planet phase curves., Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 3 appendices, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We validate the presence of a two-planet system orbiting the 0.15–1.4 Gyr K4 dwarf TOI 560 (HD 73583). The system consists of an inner moderately eccentric transiting mini-Neptune (TOI 560 b, P = 6.3980661 − 0.0000097 + 0.0000095 days, e = 0.294 − 0.062 + 0.13 , M = 0.94 − 0.23 + 0.31 M Nep ) initially discovered in the Sector 8 Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission observations, and a transiting mini-Neptune (TOI 560 c, P = 18.8805 − 0.0011 + 0.0024 days, M = 1.32 − 0.32 + 0.29 M Nep ) discovered in the Sector 34 observations, in a rare near-1:3 orbital resonance. We utilize photometric data from TESS Spitzer, and ground-based follow-up observations to confirm the ephemerides and period of the transiting planets, vet false-positive scenarios, and detect the photoeccentric effect for TOI 560 b. We obtain follow-up spectroscopy and corresponding precise radial velocities (RVs) with the iSHELL spectrograph at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the HIRES Spectrograph at Keck Observatory to validate the planetary nature of these signals, which we combine with published Planet Finder Spectrograph RVs from the Magellan Observatory. We detect the masses of both planets at >3σ significance. We apply a Gaussian process (GP) model to the TESS light curves to place priors on a chromatic RV GP model to constrain the stellar activity of the TOI 560 host star, and confirm a strong wavelength dependence for the stellar activity demonstrating the ability of near-IR RVs to mitigate stellar activity for young K dwarfs. TOI 560 is a nearby moderately young multiplanet system with two planets suitable for atmospheric characterization with the James Webb Space Telescope and other upcoming missions. In particular, it will undergo six transit pairs separated by

We use TESS, Spitzer, ground-based light curves and HARPS spectrograph radial velocity measurements to establish the physical properties of the transiting exoplanet candidate TOI-674b. We perform a joint fit of the light curves and radial velocity time series to measure the mass, radius, and orbital parameters of the candidate. We confirm and characterize TOI-674b, a low-density super-Neptune transiting a nearby M dwarf. The host star (TIC 158588995, $V = 14.2$ mag, $J = 10.3$ mag) is characterized by its M2V spectral type with $\mathrm{M}_\star=0.420\pm 0.010$ M$_\odot$, $\mathrm{R}_\star = 0.420\pm 0.013$ R$_\odot$, and $\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{eff}} = 3514\pm 57$ K, and is located at a distance $d=46.16 \pm 0.03$ pc. Combining the available transit light curves plus radial velocity measurements and jointly fitting a circular orbit model, we find an orbital period of $1.977143 \pm 3\times 10^{-6}$ days, a planetary radius of $5.25 \pm 0.17$ $\mathrm{R}_\oplus$, and a mass of $23.6 \pm 3.3$ $\mathrm{M}_\oplus$ implying a mean density of $\rho_\mathrm{p} = 0.91 \pm 0.15$ [g cm$^{-3}$]. A non-circular orbit model fit delivers similar planetary mass and radius values within the uncertainties. Given the measured planetary radius and mass, TOI-674b is one of the largest and most massive super-Neptune class planets discovered around an M type star to date. It is also a resident of the so-called Neptunian desert and a promising candidate for atmospheric characterisation using the James Webb Space Telescope., Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

We report the discovery of a transiting, temperate, Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting the nearby ($d$ = 27.5 pc), M3V star TOI-1231 (NLTT 24399, L 248-27, 2MASS J10265947-5228099). The planet was detected using photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and followed up with observations from the Las Cumbres Observatory and the Antarctica Search for Transiting ExoPlanets program. Combining the photometric data sets, we find that the newly discovered planet has a radius of 3.65$^{+0.16}_{-0.15}$ R$_{\oplus}$, and an orbital period of 24.246 days. Radial velocity measurements obtained with the Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan Clay telescope confirm the existence of the planet and lead to a mass measurement of 15.5$\pm$3.3 M$_{\oplus}$. With an equilibrium temperature of just 330K TOI-1231 b is one of the coolest small planets accessible for atmospheric studies thus far, and its host star's bright NIR brightness (J=8.88, K$_{s}$=8.07) make it an exciting target for HST and JWST. Future atmospheric observations would enable the first comparative planetology efforts in the 250-350 K temperature regime via comparisons with K2-18 b. Furthermore, TOI-1231's high systemic radial velocity (70.5 k\ms) may allow for the detection of low-velocity hydrogen atoms escaping the planet by Doppler shifting the H I Ly-alpha stellar emission away from the geocoronal and ISM absorption features., 20 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal

We report the discovery of a circumstellar debris disk viewed nearly edge-on and associated with the young, K1 star BD+45$^{\circ}$598 using high-contrast imaging at 2.2$\mu$m obtained at the W.M.~Keck Observatory. We detect the disk in scattered light with a peak significance of $\sim$5$\sigma$ over three epochs, and our best-fit model of the disk is an almost edge-on $\sim$70 AU ring, with inclination angle $\sim$87$^\circ$. Using the NOEMA interferometer at the Plateau de Bure Observatory operating at 1.3mm, we find resolved continuum emission aligned with the ring structure seen in the 2.2$\mu$m images. We estimate a fractional infrared luminosity of $L_{IR}/L_{tot}$ $\simeq6^{+2}_{-1}$$\times$$10^{-4}$, higher than that of the debris disk around AU Mic. Several characteristics of BD+45$^{\circ}$598, such as its galactic space motion, placement in a color-magnitude diagram, and strong presence of Lithium, are all consistent with its membership in the $\beta$ Pictoris Moving Group with an age of 23$\pm$3 Myr. However, the galactic position for BD+45$^{\circ}$598 is slightly discrepant from previously-known members of the $\beta$ Pictoris Moving Group, possibly indicating an extension of members of this moving group to distances of at least 70pc. BD+45$^{\circ}$598 appears to be an example from a population of young circumstellar debris systems associated with newly identified members of young moving groups that can be imaged in scattered light, key objects for mapping out the early evolution of planetary systems from $\sim$10-100 Myr. This target will also be ideal for northern-hemisphere, high-contrast imaging platforms to search for self-luminous, planetary mass companions residing in this system., Comment: 11 pages, Accepted to ApJ

We report the discovery of TOI-561, a multi-planet system in the galactic thick disk that contains a rocky, ultra-short period planet (USP). This bright ($V=10.2$) star hosts three small transiting planets identified in photometry from the NASA TESS mission: TOI-561 b (TOI-561.02, P=0.44 days, $R_b = 1.45\pm0.11\,R_\oplus$), c (TOI-561.01, P=10.8 days, $R_c=2.90\pm0.13\,R_\oplus$), and d (TOI-561.03, P=16.3 days, $R_d=2.32\pm0.16\,R_\oplus$). The star is chemically ([Fe/H]$=-0.41\pm0.05$, [$\alpha$/H]$=+0.23\pm0.05$) and kinematically consistent with the galactic thick disk population, making TOI-561 one of the oldest ($10\pm3\,$Gyr) and most metal-poor planetary systems discovered yet. We dynamically confirm planets b and c with radial velocities from the W. M. Keck Observatory High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer. Planet b has a mass and density of $3.2\pm0.8\,M_\oplus$ and $5.5^{+2.0}_{-1.6}\,$g$\,$cm$^{-3}$, consistent with a rocky composition. Its lower-than-average density is consistent with an iron-poor composition, although an Earth-like iron-to-silicates ratio is not ruled out. Planet c is $7.0\pm2.3\,M_\oplus$ and $1.6\pm0.6\,$g$\,$cm$^{-3}$, consistent with an interior rocky core overlaid with a low-mass volatile envelope. Several attributes of the photometry for planet d (which we did not detect dynamically) complicate the analysis, but we vet the planet with high-contrast imaging, ground-based photometric follow-up and radial velocities. TOI-561 b is the first rocky world around a galactic thick-disk star confirmed with radial velocities and one of the best rocky planets for thermal emission studies., Comment: Accepted at The Astronomical Journal; 25 pages, 10 figures

We present the discovery and characterization of two sub-Neptunes in close orbits, as well as a tentative outer planet of a similar size, orbiting TOI-1260 – a low metallicity K6 V dwarf star. Photometry from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS) yields radii of Rb = 2.33 ± 0.10 and Rc = 2.82 ± 0.15 R⊕, and periods of 3.13 and 7.49 d for TOI-1260 b and TOI-1260 c, respectively. We combined the TESS data with a series of ground-based follow-up observations to characterize the planetary system. From HARPS-N high-precision radial velocities we obtain Mb = $8.6 _{ - 1.5 } ^ { + 1.4 }$ and Mc = $11.8 _{ - 3.2 } ^ { + 3.4 }$ M⊕. The star is moderately active with a complex activity pattern, which necessitated the use of Gaussian process regression for both the light-curve detrending and the radial velocity modelling, in the latter case guided by suitable activity indicators. We successfully disentangle the stellar-induced signal from the planetary signals, underlining the importance and usefulness of the Gaussian process approach. We test the system’s stability against atmospheric photoevaporation and find that the TOI-1260 planets are classic examples of the structure and composition ambiguity typical for the 2–3 R⊕ range.

We report the discovery of two short-period Saturn-mass planets, one transiting the G subgiant TOI-954 (TIC 44792534, $ V = 10.343 $, $ T = 9.78 $) observed in TESS sectors 4 and 5, and one transiting the G dwarf K2-329 (EPIC 246193072, $ V = 12.70 $, $ K = 10.67 $) observed in K2 campaigns 12 and 19. We confirm and characterize these two planets with a variety of ground-based archival and follow-up observations, including photometry, reconnaissance spectroscopy, precise radial velocity, and high-resolution imaging. Combining all available data, we find that TOI-954 b has a radius of $0.852_{-0.062}^{+0.053} \, R_{\mathrm{J}}$ and a mass of $0.174_{-0.017}^{+0.018} \, M_{\mathrm{J}}$ and is in a 3.68 day orbit, while K2-329 b has a radius of $0.774_{-0.024}^{+0.026} \, R_{\mathrm{J}}$ and a mass of $0.260_{-0.022}^{+0.020} \, M_{\mathrm{J}}$ and is in a 12.46 day orbit. As TOI-954 b is 30 times more irradiated than K2-329 b but more or less the same size, these two planets provide an opportunity to test whether irradiation leads to inflation of Saturn-mass planets and contribute to future comparative studies that explore Saturn-mass planets at contrasting points in their lifetimes., Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, 11 tables, accepted by AJ, ancillary data also available at https://github.com/vulpicastor/toi954-data

We report the discovery and characterization of two transiting planets around the bright M1 V star LP 961-53 (TOI-776, J = 8.5 mag, M = 0.54+-0.03 Msun) detected during Sector 10 observations of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Combining the TESS photometry with HARPS radial velocities, as well as ground-based follow-up transit observations from MEarth and LCOGT telescopes, we measured for the inner planet, TOI-776 b, a period of 8.25 d, a radius of 1.85+-0.13 Re, and a mass of 4.0+-0.9 Me; and for the outer planet, TOI-776 c, a period of 15.66 d, a radius of 2.02+-0.14 Re, and a mass of 5.3+-1.8 Me. The Doppler data shows one additional signal, with a period of 34 d, associated with the rotational period of the star. The analysis of fifteen years of ground-based photometric monitoring data and the inspection of different spectral line indicators confirm this assumption. The bulk densities of TOI-776 b and c allow for a wide range of possible interior and atmospheric compositions. However, both planets have retained a significant atmosphere, with slightly different envelope mass fractions. Thanks to their location near the radius gap for M dwarfs, we can start to explore the mechanism(s) responsible for the radius valley emergence around low-mass stars as compared to solar-like stars. While a larger sample of well-characterized planets in this parameter space is still needed to draw firm conclusions, we tentatively estimate that the stellar mass below which thermally-driven mass loss is no longer the main formation pathway for sculpting the radius valley is between 0.63 and 0.54 Msun. Due to the brightness of the star, the TOI-776 system is also an excellent target for the James Webb Space Telescope, providing a remarkable laboratory to break the degeneracy in planetary interior models and to test formation and evolution theories of small planets around low-mass stars., Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Full list of authors: Kemmer, J.; Stock, S.; Kossakowski, D.; Kaminski, A.; Molaverdikhani, K.; Schlecker, M.; Caballero, J. A.; Amado, P. J.; Astudillo-Defru, N.; Bonfils, X.; Ciardi, D.; Collins, K. A.; Espinoza, N.; Fukui, A.; Hirano, T.; Jenkins, J. M.; Latham, D. W.; Matthews, E. C.; Narita, N.; Pallé, E.; Parviainen, H.; Quirrenbach, A.; Reiners, A.; Ribas, I.; Ricker, G.; Schlieder, J. E.; Seager, S.; Vanderspek, R.; Winn, J. N.; Almenara, J. M.; Béjar, V. J. S.; Bluhm, P.; Bouchy, F.; Boyd, P.; Christiansen, J. L.; Cifuentes, C.; Cloutier, R.; Collins, K. I.; Cortés-Contreras, M.; Crossfield, I. J. M.; Crouzet, N.; de Leon, J. P.; Della-Rose, D. D.; Delfosse, X.; Dreizler, S.; Esparza-Borges, E.; Essack, Z.; Forveille, Th.; Figueira, P.; Galadí-Enríquez, D.; Gan, T.; Glidden, A.; Gonzales, E. J.; Guerra, P.; Harakawa, H.; Hatzes, A. P.; Henning, Th.; Herrero, E.; Hodapp, K.; Hori, Y.; Howell, S. B.; Ikoma, M.; Isogai, K.; Jeffers, S. V.; Kürster, M.; Kawauchi, K.; Kimura, T.; Klagyivik, P.; Kotani, T.; Kurokawa, T.; Kusakabe, N.; Kuzuhara, M.; Lafarga, M.; Livingston, J. H.; Luque, R.; Matson, R.; Morales, J. C.; Mori, M.; Muirhead, P. S.; Murgas, F.; Nishikawa, J.; Nishiumi, T.; Omiya, M.; Reffert, S.; Rodríguez López, C.; Santos, N. C.; Schöfer, P.; Schwarz, R. P.; Shiao, B.; Tamura, M.; Terada, Y.; Twicken, J. D.; Ueda, A.; Vievard, S.; Watanabe, N.; Zechmeister, M., We present the confirmation and characterisation of GJ 3473 b (G 50-16, TOI-488.01), a hot Earth-sized planet orbiting an M4 dwarf star, whose transiting signal (P = 1.1980035 ± 0.0000018 d) was first detected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Through a joint modelling of follow-up radial velocity observations with CARMENES, IRD, and HARPS together with extensive ground-based photometric follow-up observations with LCOGT, MuSCAT, and MuSCAT2, we determined a precise planetary mass, Mb = 1.86 ± 0.30 M·, and radius, Rb = 1.264 ± 0.050 R·. Additionally, we report the discovery of a second, temperate, non-transiting planet in the system, GJ 3473 c, which has a minimum mass, Mc sin i = 7.41 ± 0.91 M·, and orbital period, Pc = 15.509 ± 0.033 d. The inner planet of the system, GJ 3473 b, is one of the hottest transiting Earth-sized planets known thus far, accompanied by a dynamical mass measurement, which makes it a particularly attractive target for thermal emission spectroscopy. © 2020 ESO., CARMENES is an instrument at the Centro Astronomico Hispano-Aleman de Calar Alto (CAHA, Almeria, Spain). CARMENES was funded by the German Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG), the Spanish Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), the European Union through FEDER/ERF FICTS-2011-02 funds, and the members of the CARMENES Consortium (Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie, Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Landessternwarte Konigstuhl, Institut de Ciencies de l'Espai, Insitut fur Astrophysik Gottingen, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Thuringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Hamburger Sternwarte, Centro de Astrobiologia and Centro Astronomico Hispano-Aleman), with additional contributions by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, the German Science Foundation through the Major Research Instrumentation Programme and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Research Unit FOR2544 "Blue Planets around Red Stars", the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, the states of Baden-Wurttemberg and Niedersachsen, and by the Junta de Andalucia. Part of this work was funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion via projects PID2019-109522GB-C51/2/3/4 and AYA2016-79425C3-1/2/3-P, (MEXT/)JSPS KAKENHI via grants 15H02063, JP17H04574, 18H05442, JP18H01265, JP18H05439, 19J11805, JP19K14783, and 22000005, JST PRESTO via grant JPMJPR1775, FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC, PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017) via grant UID/FIS/04434/2019, FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI-010145-FEDER-032113), the FONDECYT project 3180063, Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao by these grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019; UIDB/04434/2020; UIDP/04434/2020; PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032113; PTDC/FISAST/28953/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028953. and the International Graduate Program for Excellence in Earth-Space Science. Part of the data analysis was carried out on the Multi-wavelength Data Analysis System operated by the Astronomy Data Center, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Funding for the TESS mission is provided by NASA's Science Mission directorate. We acknowledge the use of public TESS Alert data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. This research has made use of the Exoplanet Follow-up Observation Program website, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products. This paper includes data collected by the TESS mission, which are publicly available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. This work makes use of observations from the LCOGT network. The analysis of this work has made use of a wide variety of public available software packages that are not referenced in the manuscript: Exo-Striker (Trifonov 2019), astropy (Astropy Collaboration 2018), scipy (Virtanen et al. 2020), numpy (Oliphant 2006), matplotlib (Hunter 2007), tqdm (da Costa-Luis 2019), pandas (The pandas development team 2020), seaborn (Waskom et al. 2020), lightkurve (Lightkurve Collaboration 2018) and PyFITS (Barrett et al. 2012).

We present the confirmation of two new planets transiting the nearby mid-M dwarf LTT 3780 (TIC 36724087, TOI-732, $V=13.07$, $K_s=8.204$, $R_s$=0.374 R$_{\odot}$, $M_s$=0.401 M$_{\odot}$, d=22 pc). The two planet candidates are identified in a single TESS sector and are validated with reconnaissance spectroscopy, ground-based photometric follow-up, and high-resolution imaging. With measured orbital periods of $P_b=0.77$ days, $P_c=12.25$ days and sizes $r_{p,b}=1.33\pm 0.07$ R$_{\oplus}$, $r_{p,c}=2.30\pm 0.16$ R$_{\oplus}$, the two planets span the radius valley in period-radius space around low mass stars thus making the system a laboratory to test competing theories of the emergence of the radius valley in that stellar mass regime. By combining 63 precise radial-velocity measurements from HARPS and HARPS-N, we measure planet masses of $m_{p,b}=2.62^{+0.48}_{-0.46}$ M$_{\oplus}$ and $m_{p,c}=8.6^{+1.6}_{-1.3}$ M$_{\oplus}$, which indicates that LTT 3780b has a bulk composition consistent with being Earth-like, while LTT 3780c likely hosts an extended H/He envelope. We show that the recovered planetary masses are consistent with predictions from both photoevaporation and from core-powered mass loss models. The brightness and small size of LTT 3780, along with the measured planetary parameters, render LTT 3780b and c as accessible targets for atmospheric characterization of planets within the same planetary system and spanning the radius valley., Comment: Accepted to AJ. 8 figures, 6 tables. CSV file of the RV measurements (i.e. Table 2) are included in the source code

Hot Jupiters are rarely accompanied by other planets within a factor of a few in orbital distance. Previously, only two such systems have been found. Here, we report the discovery of a third system using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The host star, TOI-1130, is an 11th magnitude K-dwarf in the Gaia G band. It has two transiting planets: a Neptune-sized planet ($3.65\pm 0.10$ $R_E$) with a 4.1-day period, and a hot Jupiter ($1.50^{+0.27}_{-0.22}$ $R_J$) with an 8.4-day period. Precise radial-velocity observations show that the mass of the hot Jupiter is $0.974^{+0.043}_{-0.044}$ $M_J$. For the inner Neptune, the data provide only an upper limit on the mass of 0.17 $M_J$ (3$\sigma$). Nevertheless, we are confident the inner planet is real, based on follow-up ground-based photometry and adaptive optics imaging that rule out other plausible sources of the TESS transit signal. The unusual planetary architecture of and the brightness of the host star make TOI-1130 a good test case for planet formation theories, and an attractive target for future spectroscopic observations., Comment: accepted by ApJL

We have identified a quadruple system with two close eclipsing binaries in TESS data. The object is unresolved in Gaia and appears as a single source at parallax 1.08~$\pm$0.01 mas. Both binaries have observable primary and secondary eclipses and were monitored throughout TESS Cycle 1 (sectors 1-13), falling within the TESS Continuous Viewing Zone. In one eclipsing binary (P = 5.488 d), the smaller star is completely occluded by the larger star during the secondary eclipse; in the other (P = 5.674 d) both eclipses are grazing. Using these data, spectroscopy, speckle photometry, SED analysis and evolutionary stellar tracks, we have constrained the masses and radii of the four stars in the two eclipsing binaries. The Li I EW indicates an age of 10-50 Myr and, with an outer period of $858^{+7}_{-5}$ days, our analysis indicates this is one of the most compact young 2+2 quadruple systems known., Comment: Submitted to AJ

We present the discovery of three sub-Neptune-sized planets transiting the nearby and bright Sun-like star HD 191939 (TIC 269701147, TOI 1339), a K s = 7.18 mag G8 V dwarf at a distance of only 54 pc. We validate the planetary nature of the transit signals by combining 5 months of data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite with follow-up ground-based photometry, archival optical images, radial velocities, and high angular resolution observations. The three sub-Neptunes have similar radii (Rb=3.42-0.11+0.11, Rc=3.23-0.11+0.11, and Rd=3.16-0.11+0.11,R⊕), and their orbits are consistent with a stable, circular, and coplanar architecture near mean-motion resonances of 1:3 and 3:4 (P b = 8.88, P c = 28.58, and P d = 38.35 days). The HD 191939 system is an excellent candidate for precise mass determinations of the planets with high-resolution spectroscopy due to the host star's brightness and low chromospheric activity. Moreover, the system's compact and near-resonant nature can provide an independent way to measure planetary masses via transit timing variations while also enabling dynamical and evolutionary studies. Finally, as a promising target for multiwavelength transmission spectroscopy of all three planets' atmospheres, HD 191939 can offer valuable insight into multiple sub-Neptunes born from a protoplanetary disk that may have resembled that of the early Sun., Funding for this research is provided by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the MIT Torres Fellow Program, and the MIT Kavli Institute. We acknowledge the use of public TESS Alert data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. Funding for the TESS mission is provided by NASAʼs Science Mission directorate. This research has made use of the Exoplanet Follow-up Observation Program website, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products. This paper includes data collected by the TESS mission that are publicly available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). The STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. This research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. The Digitized Sky Surveys were produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under U.S. Government grant NAG W-2166. The images of these surveys are based on photographic data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope. The plates were processed into the present compressed digital form with the permission of these institutions. The National Geographic Society—Palomar Observatory Sky Atlas (POSS-I) was made by the California Institute of Technology with grants from the National Geographic Society. The Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS-II) was made by the California Institute of Technology with funds from the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Sloan Foundation, the Samuel Oschin Foundation, and the Eastman Kodak Corporation. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www. cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC; https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/ gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. This paper used data retrieved from the SOPHIE archive at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP), available at atlas.obs-hp.fr/sophie. The AO images presented in this paper were obtained at the Gemini Observatory (Program ID: GN-2019B-LP-101), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva (Argentina), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brazil), and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Republic of Korea). The authors thank Amanda Bosh (MIT), Tim Brothers (MIT Wallace Astrophysical Observatory), Julien de Wit (MIT), Artem Burdanov (MIT), Songhu Wang (Yale University), Enrique Herrero (IEEC/OAdM), Jonathan Irwin (HarvardCfA), Samuel Hadden (Harvard-CfA), Özgür Baştürk (Ankara University), Ergün Ege (Istanbul University), and Brice-Olivier Demory (University of Bern) for helping to coordinate followup observations. We thank the anonymous referee for helpful comments and suggestions that greatly improved this work. M.N.G. and C.X.H. acknowledge support from MIT’s Kavli Institute as Juan Carlos Torres Fellows. T.D. acknowledges support from MITʼs Kavli Institute as a Kavli postdoctoral fellow. A.V.ʼs work was performed under contract with the California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, funded by NASA through the Sagan Fellowship Program executed by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. I.R. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) through grant PGC2018-098153-B-C33, as well as the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA program. B.V.R. and J.N.W. thank the Heising-Simons Foundation for support. I.J.M.C. acknowledges support from the NSF through grant AST-1824644 and NASA through Caltech/JPL grant RSA-1610091.

Planets occur most frequently around cool dwarfs, but only a handful of specific examples are known to orbit the latest-type M stars. Using TESS photometry, we report the discovery of two planets transiting the low-mass star called LP 791-18 (identified by TESS as TOI 736). This star has spectral type M6V, effective temperature 2960 K, and radius 0.17 R_Sun, making it the third-coolest star known to host planets. The two planets straddle the radius gap seen for smaller exoplanets; they include a 1.1 R_Earth planet on a 0.95 day orbit and a 2.3 R_Earth planet on a 5 day orbit. Because the host star is small the loss of light during these planets' transits is fairly large (0.4% and 1.7%). This has allowed us to detect both planets' transits from ground-based photometry, refining their radii and orbital ephemerides. In the future, radial velocity observations and transmission spectroscopy can both probe these planets' bulk interior and atmospheric compositions, and additional photometric monitoring would be sensitive to even smaller transiting planets., 20 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, 2 planets, 1 cool star. Submitted to AAS Journals

We present the discovery of TYC9191-519-1b (TOI-150b, TIC 271893367) and HD271181b (TOI-163b, TIC 179317684), two hot Jupiters initially detected using 30-minute cadence Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite TESS photometry from Sector 1 and thoroughly characterized through follow-up photometry (CHAT, Hazelwood, LCO/CTIO, El Sauce, TRAPPIST-S), high-resolution spectroscopy (FEROS, CORALIE) and speckle imaging (Gemini/DSSI), confirming the planetary nature of the two signals. A simultaneous joint fit of photometry and radial velocity using a new fitting package juliet reveals that TOI-150b is a $1.254\pm0.016\ R_J$, massive ($2.61^{+0.19}_{-0.12}\ M_J$) hot Jupiter in a $5.857$-day orbit, while TOI-163b is an inflated ($R_P$ = $1.478^{+0.022}_{-0.029} R_J$, $M_P$ = $1.219\pm0.11 M_J$) hot Jupiter on a $P$ = $4.231$-day orbit; both planets orbit F-type stars. A particularly interesting result is that TOI-150b shows an eccentric orbit ($e=0.262^{+0.045}_{-0.037}$), which is quite uncommon among hot Jupiters. We estimate that this is consistent, however, with the circularization timescale which is slightly larger than the age of the system. These two hot Jupiters are both prime candidates for further characterization --- in particular, both are excellent candidates for determining spin-orbit alignments via the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect and for characterizing atmospheric thermal structures using secondary eclipse observations considering they are both located closely to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Continuous Viewing Zone (CVZ)., referee report submitted to MNRAS

We report on the confirmation of a transiting giant planet around the relatively hot (Teff = 6801 $\pm$ 56 K) star HD2685, whose transit signal was detected in Sector 1 data of the TESS mission. We confirmed the planetary nature of the transit signal by using Doppler velocimetric measurements with CHIRON, CORALIE and FEROS, as well as photometric data with CHAT and LCOGT. From the photometry and radial velocities joint analysis, we derived the following parameters for HD2685 $b$: $P$=4.12692$\pm$0.00004 days, M$_P$=1.18 $\pm$ 0.09 $M_J$ and $R_P$=1.44 $\pm$ 0.01 $R_J$. This system is a typical example of an inflated transiting Hot-Jupiter in a circular orbit. Given the host star apparent visual magnitude ($V$ = 9.6 mag), this is one of the brightest known stars hosting a transiting Hot-Jupiter, and a good example of the upcoming systems that will be detected by TESS during the two-year primary mission. This is also an excellent target for future ground and space based atmospheric characterization as well as a good candidate for measuring the projected spin-orbit misalignment angle via the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect., Comment: Submitted for publication to A&A

We report the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ($TESS$) detection of a multi-planet system orbiting the $V=10.9$ K0 dwarf TOI 125. We find evidence for up to five planets, with varying confidence. Three high signal-to-noise transit signals correspond to sub-Neptune-sized planets ($2.76$, $2.79$, and $2.94\ R_{\oplus}$), and we statistically validate the planetary nature of the two inner planets ($P_b = 4.65$ days, $P_c = 9.15$ days). With only two transits observed, we report the outer object ($P_{.03} = 19.98$ days) as a high signal-to-noise ratio planet candidate. We also detect a candidate transiting super-Earth ($1.4\ R_{\oplus}$) with an orbital period of only $12.7$ hours and a candidate Neptune-sized planet ($4.2\ R_{\oplus}$) with a period of $13.28$ days, both at low signal-to-noise. This system is amenable to mass determination via radial velocities and transit timing variations, and provides an opportunity to study planets of similar size while controlling for age and environment. The ratio of orbital periods between TOI 125 b and c ($P_c/P_b = 1.97$) is slightly smaller than an exact 2:1 commensurability and is atypical of multiple planet systems from $Kepler$, which show a preference for period ratios just $wide$ of first-order period ratios. A dynamical analysis refines the allowed parameter space through stability arguments and suggests that, despite the nearly commensurate periods, the system is unlikely to be in resonance., Comment: Submitted to AAS Journals. 20 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables

We report the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) discovery of three terrestrial-sized planets transiting L 98-59 (TOI-175, TIC 307210830) -- a bright M dwarf at a distance of 10.6 pc. Using the Gaia-measured distance and broad-band photometry we find that the host star is an M3 dwarf. Combined with the TESS transits from three sectors, the corresponding stellar parameters yield planet radii ranging from 0.8REarth to 1.6REarth. All three planets have short orbital periods, ranging from 2.25 to 7.45 days with the outer pair just wide of a 2:1 period resonance. Diagnostic tests produced by the TESS Data Validation Report and the vetting package DAVE rule out common false positive sources. These analyses, along with dedicated follow-up and the multiplicity of the system, lend confidence that the observed signals are caused by planets transiting L 98-59 and are not associated with other sources in the field. The L 98-59 system is interesting for a number of reasons: the host star is bright (V = 11.7 mag, K = 7.1 mag) and the planets are prime targets for further follow-up observations including precision radial-velocity mass measurements and future transit spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope; the near resonant configuration makes the system a laboratory to study planetary system dynamical evolution; and three planets of relatively similar size in the same system present an opportunity to study terrestrial planets where other variables (age, metallicity, etc.) can be held constant. L 98-59 will be observed in 4 more TESS sectors, which will provide a wealth of information on the three currently known planets and have the potential to reveal additional planets in the system., 27 pages, 22 figures, AJ accepted

The future of exoplanet science is bright, as TESS once again demonstrates with the discovery of its longest-period confirmed planet to date. We hereby present HD 21749b (TOI 186.01), a sub-Neptune in a 36-day orbit around a bright (V = 8.1) nearby (16 pc) K4.5 dwarf. TESS measures HD21749b to be 2.61$^{+0.17}_{-0.16}$ $R_{\oplus}$, and combined archival and follow-up precision radial velocity data put the mass of the planet at $22.7^{+2.2}_{-1.9}$ $M_{\oplus}$. HD 21749b contributes to the TESS Level 1 Science Requirement of providing 50 transiting planets smaller than 4 $R_{\oplus}$ with measured masses. Furthermore, we report the discovery of HD 21749c (TOI 186.02), the first Earth-sized ($R_p = 0.892^{+0.064}_{-0.058} R_{\oplus}$) planet from TESS. The HD21749 system is a prime target for comparative studies of planetary composition and architecture in multi-planet systems., Comment: Published in ApJ Letters; 5 figures, 1 table

Small planets on close-in orbits tend to exhibit envelope mass fractions of either effectively zero or up to a few percent depending on their size and orbital period. Models of thermally-driven atmospheric mass loss and of terrestrial planet formation in a gas-poor environment make distinct predictions regarding the location of this rocky/non-rocky transition in period-radius space. Here we present the confirmation of TOI-1235 b ($P=3.44$ days, $r_p=1.738^{+0.087}_{-0.076}$ R$_{\oplus}$), a planet whose size and period are intermediate between the competing model predictions thus making the system an important test case for emergence models of the rocky/non-rocky transition around early M dwarfs ($R_s=0.630\pm 0.015$ R$_{\odot}$, $M_s=0.640\pm 0.016$ M$_{\odot}$). We confirm the TESS planet discovery using reconnaissance spectroscopy, ground-based photometry, high-resolution imaging, and a set of 38 precise radial-velocities from HARPS-N and HIRES. We measure a planet mass of $6.91^{+0.75}_{-0.85}$ M$_{\oplus}$, which implies an iron core mass fraction of $20^{+15}_{-12}$% in the absence of a gaseous envelope. The bulk composition of TOI-1235 b is therefore consistent with being Earth-like and we constrain a H/He envelope mass fraction to be $, Accepted to The Astronomical Journal. 8 figures & 5 tables. Table 2 is provided in the arXiv source code

We report the discovery of GJ 1252 b, a planet with a radius of 1.193 $\pm$ 0.074 $R_{\oplus}$ and an orbital period of 0.52 days around an M3-type star (0.381 $\pm$ 0.019 $M_{\odot}$, 0.391 $\pm$ 0.020 $R_{\odot}$) located 20.385 $\pm$ 0.019 pc away. We use TESS data, ground-based photometry and spectroscopy, Gaia astrometry, and high angular resolution imaging to show that the transit signal seen in the TESS data must originate from a transiting planet. We do so by ruling out all false positive scenarios that attempt to explain the transit signal as originating from an eclipsing stellar binary. Precise Doppler monitoring also leads to a tentative mass measurement of 2.09 $\pm$ 0.56 $M_{\oplus}$. The host star proximity, brightness ($V$ = 12.19 mag, $K$ = 7.92 mag), low stellar activity, and the system's short orbital period make this planet an attractive target for detailed characterization, including precise mass measurement, looking for other objects in the system, and planet atmosphere characterization., Accepted to ApJ Letters

We present the first spatially resolved scattered-light images of four debris disks around members of the Scorpius-Centaurus (Sco-Cen) OB Association with high-contrast imaging and polarimetry using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). All four disks are resolved for the first time in polarized light and one disk is also detected in total intensity. The three disks imaged around HD 111161, HD 143675, and HD 145560 are symmetric in both morphology and brightness distribution. The three systems span a range of inclinations and radial extents. The disk imaged around HD 98363 shows indications of asymmetries in morphology and brightness distribution, with some structural similarities to the HD 106906 planet-disk system. Uniquely, HD 98363 has a wide co-moving stellar companion Wray 15-788 with a recently resolved disk with very different morphological properties. HD 98363 A/B is the first binary debris disk system with two spatially resolved disks. All four targets have been observed with ALMA, and their continuum fluxes range from one non-detection to one of the brightest disks in the region. With the new results, a total of 15 A/F-stars in Sco-Cen have resolved scattered light debris disks, and approximately half of these systems exhibit some form of asymmetry. Combining the GPI disk structure results with information from the literature on millimeter fluxes and imaged planets reveals a diversity of disk properties in this young population. Overall, the four newly resolved disks contribute to the census of disk structures measured around A/F-stars at this important stage in the development of planetary systems., Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite TESS has begun a new age of exoplanet discoveries around bright host stars. We present the discovery of HD 1397b (TOI-120.01), a giant planet in an 11.54day eccentric orbit around a bright (V=7.9) G-type subgiant. We estimate both host star and planetary parameters consistently using EXOFASTv2 based on TESS time-series photometry of transits and CORALIE radial velocity measurements. We find that HD 1397b is a Jovian planet, with a mass of $0.419\pm-0.024$ M$_{\rm Jup}$ and a radius of $1.023^{+0.023}_{-0.026$}$ R$_{\rm Jup}$. Characterising giant planets in short-period eccentric orbits, such as HD 1397b, is important for understanding and testing theories for the formation and migration of giant planets as well as planet-star interactions., Accepted for publication in A&A

Giant, wide-separation planets often lie in the gap between multiple, distinct rings of circumstellar debris: this is the case for the HR\,8799 and HD\,95086 systems, and even the solar system where the Asteroid and Kuiper belts enclose the four gas and ice giants. In the case that a debris disk, inferred from an infrared excess in the SED, is best modelled as two distinct temperatures, we infer the presence of two spatially separated rings of debris. Giant planets may well exist between these two belts of debris, and indeed could be responsible for the formation of the gap between these belts. We observe 24 such two-belt systems using the VLT/SPHERE high contrast imager, and interpret our results under the assumption that the gap is indeed formed by one or more giant planets. A theoretical minimum mass for each planet can then be calculated, based on the predicted dynamical timescales to clear debris. The typical dynamical lower limit is $\sim$0.2$M_J$ in this work, and in some cases exceeds 1$M_J$. Direct imaging data, meanwhile, is typically sensitive to planets down to $\sim$3.6$M_J$ at 1'', and 1.7$M_J$ in the best case. Together, these two limits tightly constrain the possible planetary systems present around each target, many of which will be detectable with the next generation of high-contrast imagers., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 16 pages, 7 figures

We present the first scattered light image of the debris disk around HD 129590, a ~1.3 M$_\odot$ G1V member of the Scorpius Centaurus association with age ~10-16 Myr. The debris disk is imaged with the high contrast imaging instrument SPHERE at the Very Large Telescope, and is revealed by both the IRDIS and IFS subsytems, operating in the H and YJ bands respectively. The disk has a high infrared luminosity of $L_{\textrm{IR}}/L_{\textrm{star}}$~5$\times$10$^{-3}$, and has been resolved in other studies using ALMA. We detect a nearly edge on ring, with evidence of an inner clearing. We fit the debris disk using a model characterized by a single bright ring, with radius ~60-70 AU, in broad agreement with previous analysis of the target SED. The disk is vertically thin, and has an inclination angle of ~75$^\circ$. Along with other previously imaged edge-on disks in the Sco-Cen association such as HD 110058, HD 115600, and HD 111520, this disk image will allow of the structure and morphology of very young debris disks, shortly after the epoch of planet formation has ceased., 8 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJL

The gap between two component debris disks is often taken to be carved by intervening planets scattering away the remnant planetesimals. We employ N-body simulations to determine how the time needed to clear the gap depends on the location of the gap and the mass of the planets. We invert this relation, and provide an equation for the minimum planet mass, and another for the expected number of such planets, that must be present to produce an observed gap for a star of a given age. We show how this can be combined with upper limits on the planetary system from direct imaging non-detections (such as with GPI or SPHERE) to produce approximate knowledge of the planetary system., European Research Council (Grant ID: 279973), This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Oxford University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slw143

We present 0.95-1.80 $\mu$m spectroscopy of the $\sim$12-27 $M_{\rm Jup}$ companion orbiting the faint ($R$$\sim$13.6), young ($\sim$120 Myr) M-dwarf 2MASS J01225093--2439505 ("2M0122--2439 B") at 1.5 arcsecond separation (50 AU). Our coronagraphic long-slit spectroscopy was obtained with the new high contrast imaging platform VLT-SPHERE during Science Verification. The unique long-slit capability of SPHERE enables spectral resolution an order of magnitude higher than other extreme AO exoplanet imaging instruments. With a low mass, cool temperature, and very red colors, 2M0122-2439 B occupies a particularly important region of the substellar color-magnitude diagram by bridging the warm directly imaged hot planets with late-M/early-L spectral types (e.g. $\beta$ Pic b and ROXs 42Bb) and the cooler, dusty objects near the L/T transition (e.g. HR 8799bcde and 2MASS 1207b). We fit BT-Settl atmospheric models to our $R$$\approx$350 spectrum and find $T_{\rm eff}$=1600$\pm$100 K and $\log(g)$=4.5$\pm$0.5 dex. Visual analysis of our 2M0122-2439 B spectrum suggests a spectral type L3-L4, and we resolve shallow $J$-band alkali lines, confirming its low gravity and youth. Specifically, we use the Allers & Liu (2013) spectral indices to quantitatively measure the strength of the FeH, VO, KI, spectral features, as well as the overall $H$-band shape. Using these indices, along with the visual spectral type analysis, we classify 2M0122-2439 B as an intermediate gravity (INT-G) object with spectral type L3.7$\pm$1.0., Comment: Accepted to ApJ Letters, 8 pages, 4 figures, some minor typographical issues were fixed

We report the detection of a transiting hot Neptune exoplanet orbiting TOI-824 (SCR J1448-5735), a nearby (d = 64 pc) K4V star, using data from the \textit{Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite} (TESS). The newly discovered planet has a radius, $R_{\rm{p}}$ = 2.93 $\pm$ 0.20 R$_{\oplus}$, and an orbital period of 1.393 days. Radial velocity measurements using the Planet Finder Spectrograph (PFS) and the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph confirm the existence of the planet and we estimate its mass to be $M_{\rm{p}}$ = 18.47 $\pm$ 1.84 M$_{\oplus}$. The planet's mean density is $\rho_{\rm{p}}$ = 4.03$^{+0.98}_{-0.78}$ g cm$^{-3}$ making it more than twice as dense as Neptune. TOI-824 b's high equilibrium temperature makes the planet likely to have a cloud free atmosphere, and thus an excellent candidate for follow up atmospheric studies. The detectability of TOI-824 b's atmosphere from both ground and space is promising and could lead to the detailed characterization of the most irradiated, small planet at the edge of the hot Neptune desert that has retained its atmosphere to date., Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal

Debris disk stars are good targets for high contrast imaging searches for planetary systems, since debris disks have been shown to have a tentative correlation with giant planets. We selected 20 stars identified as debris disk hosts by the WSIE mission, with particularly high levels of warm dust. We observed these with the VLT/SPHERE high contrast imaging instrument with the goal of finding planets and imaging the disks in scattered light. Our survey reaches a median 5$\sigma$~sensitivity of 10.4Mj at 25au and 5.9Mj at 100au. We identified three new stellar companions (HD18378B, HD19257B and HD133778B): two are mid-M type stars and one is late-K or early-M star. Three additional stars have very widely separated stellar companions (all at $>$2000au) identified in the Gaia catalog. The stars hosting the three SPHERE-identified companions are all older ($\gtrsim$700Myr), with one having recently left the main sequence and one a giant star. We infer that the high volumes of dust observed around these stars might have been caused by a recent collision between the planets and planetesimal belts in the system, although for the most evolved star, mass loss could also be responsible for the infrared excess. Future mid-IR spectroscopy or polarimetric imaging may allow the positions and spatial extent of these dust belts to be constrained, thereby providing evidence as to the true cause of the elevated levels of dust around these old systems. None of the disks in this survey are resolved in scattered light., Comment: Accepted to AJ

We present the discovery and characterization of five hot and warm Jupiters -- TOI-628 b (TIC 281408474; HD 288842), TOI-640 b (TIC 147977348), TOI-1333 b (TIC 395171208, BD+47 3521A), TOI-1478 b (TIC 409794137), and TOI-1601 b (TIC 139375960) -- based on data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The five planets were identified from the full frame images and were confirmed through a series of photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations by the $TESS$ Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) Working Group. The planets are all Jovian size (R$_{\rm P}$ = 1.01-1.77 R$_{\rm J}$) and have masses that range from 0.85 to 6.33 M$_{\rm J}$. The host stars of these systems have F and G spectral types (5595 $\le$ T$_{\rm eff}$ $\le$ 6460 K) and are all relatively bright (9 $ 1.7R$_{\rm J}$, possibly a result of its host star's evolution) and resides on an orbit with a period longer than 5 days. TOI-628 b is the most massive hot Jupiter discovered to date by $TESS$ with a measured mass of $6.31^{+0.28}_{-0.30}$ M$_{\rm J}$ and a statistically significant, non-zero orbital eccentricity of e = $0.074^{+0.021}_{-0.022}$. This planet would not have had enough time to circularize through tidal forces from our analysis, suggesting that it might be remnant eccentricity from its migration. The longest period planet in this sample, TOI-1478 b (P = 10.18 days), is a warm Jupiter in a circular orbit around a near-Solar analogue. NASA's $TESS$ mission is continuing to increase the sample of well-characterized hot and warm Jupiters, complementing its primary mission goals., Comment: 25 Pages, 7 Figures, 5 Tables, Accepted to The Astronomical Journal