1. A Second Planet Transiting LTT 1445A and a Determination of the Masses of Both Worlds
- Author
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Jennifer G. Winters, Ryan Cloutier, Amber A. Medina, Jonathan M. Irwin, David Charbonneau, Nicola Astudillo-Defru, Xavier Bonfils, Andrew W. Howard, Howard Isaacson, Jacob L. Bean, Andreas Seifahrt, Johanna K. Teske, Jason D. Eastman, Joseph D. Twicken, Karen A. Collins, Eric L. N. Jensen, Samuel N. Quinn, Matthew J. Payne, Martti H. Kristiansen, Alton Spencer, Andrew Vanderburg, Mathias Zechmeister, Lauren M. Weiss, Sharon Xuesong Wang, Gavin Wang, Stéphane Udry, Ivan A. Terentev, Julian Stürmer, Gudmundur Stefánsson, Avi Shporer, Stephen Shectman, Ramotholo Sefako, Hans Martin Schwengeler, Richard P. Schwarz, Nicholas Scarsdale, Ryan A. Rubenzahl, Arpita Roy, Lee J. Rosenthal, Paul Robertson, Erik A. Petigura, Francesco Pepe, Mark Omohundro, Joseph M. Akana Murphy, Felipe Murgas, Teo Močnik, Benjamin T. Montet, Ronald Mennickent, Andrew W. Mayo, Bob Massey, Jack Lubin, Christophe Lovis, Pablo Lewin, David Kasper, Stephen R. Kane, Jon M. Jenkins, Daniel Huber, Keith Horne, Michelle L. Hill, Paula Gorrini, Steven Giacalone, Benjamin Fulton, Thierry Forveille, Pedro Figueira, Tara Fetherolf, Courtney Dressing, Rodrigo F. Díaz, Xavier Delfosse, Paul A. Dalba, Fei Dai, C. C. Cortés, Ian J. M. Crossfield, Jeffrey D. Crane, Dennis M. Conti, Kevin I. Collins, Ashley Chontos, R. Paul Butler, Peyton Brown, Madison Brady, Aida Behmard, Corey Beard, Natalie M. Batalha, Jose-Manuel Almenara, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), Departamento de Matemática y Fı́sica Aplicadas [Concepcion] (DMFA), Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC), Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG ), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Science & Technology Facilities Council, University of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomy, and University of St Andrews. St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Science
- Subjects
STELLAR ACTIVITY ,FOS: Physical sciences ,SUPER-EARTH ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,EARTH-SIZED PLANET ,HARPS ,NEARBY ,QB Astronomy ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,QC ,TERRESTRIAL PLANET ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,QB ,MCC ,Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,RADIAL-VELOCITIES ,ERROR-CORRECTION ,M DWARFS ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,3rd-DAS ,QC Physics ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,SYSTEM ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
LTT 1445 is a hierarchical triple M-dwarf star system located at a distance of 6.86 parsecs. The primary star LTT 1445A (0.257 M_Sun) is known to host the transiting planet LTT 1445Ab with an orbital period of 5.4 days, making it the second closest known transiting exoplanet system, and the closest one for which the host is an M dwarf. Using TESS data, we present the discovery of a second planet in the LTT 1445 system, with an orbital period of 3.1 days. We combine radial velocity measurements obtained from the five spectrographs ESPRESSO, HARPS, HIRES, MAROON-X, and PFS to establish that the new world also orbits LTT 1445A. We determine the mass and radius of LTT 1445Ab to be 2.87+/-0.25 M_Earth and 1.304^{+0.067}_{-0.060} R_Earth, consistent with an Earth-like composition. For the newly discovered LTT 1445Ac, we measure a mass of 1.54^{+0.20}_{-0.19} M_Earth and a minimum radius of 1.15 R_Earth, but we cannot determine the radius directly as the signal-to-noise of our light curve permits both grazing and non-grazing configurations. Using MEarth photometry and ground-based spectroscopy, we establish that star C (0.161 M_Sun) is likely the source of the 1.4-day rotation period, and star B (0.215 M_Sun) has a likely rotation period of 6.7 days. We estimate a probable rotation period of 85 days for LTT 1445A. Thus, this triple M-dwarf system appears to be in a special evolutionary stage where the most massive M dwarf has spun down, the intermediate mass M dwarf is in the process of spinning down, while the least massive stellar component has not yet begun to spin down., Comment: Accepted to the Astronomical Journal. 4 tables, 10 figures; RV table available upon request
- Published
- 2022
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