Precise mass and radius of a transiting super-Earth planet orbiting the M dwarf TOI-1235: a planet in the radius gap?
Journal article, 2020
We report the confirmation of a transiting planet around the bright weakly active M0.5 V star TOI-1235 (TYC 4384-1735-1, V ≈ 11.5 mag), whose transit signal was detected in the photometric time series of sectors 14, 20, and 21 of the TESS space mission. We confirm the planetary nature of the transit signal, which has a period of 3.44 d, by using precise RV measurements with the CARMENES, HARPS-N, and iSHELL spectrographs, supplemented by high-resolution imaging and ground-based photometry. A comparison of the properties derived for TOI-1235 b with theoretical models reveals that the planet has a rocky composition, with a bulk density slightly higher than that of Earth. In particular, we measure a mass of Mp = 5.9 ± 0.6 M⊕ and a radius of Rp = 1.69 ± 0.08 R⊕, which together result in a density of ρp = 6.7- 1.1+ 1.3 g cm-3. When compared with other well-characterized exoplanetary systems, the particular combination of planetary radius and mass places our discovery in the radius gap, which is a transition region between rocky planets and planets with significant atmospheric envelopes. A few examples of planets occupying the radius gap are known to date. While the exact location of the radius gap for M dwarfs is still a matter of debate, our results constrain it to be located at around 1.7 R⊕ or larger at the insolation levels received by TOI-1235 b (~60 S⊕). This makes it an extremely interesting object for further studies of planet formation and atmospheric evolution.
Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
techniques: photometric
stars: individual: TOI-1235
stars: late-type
Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
techniques: radial velocities
Author
P. Bluhm
Heidelberg University
R. Luque
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
N. Espinoza
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
E. Palle
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
J. A. Caballero
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
S. Dreizler
University of Göttingen
J. Livingston
University of Tokyo
S. Mathur
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
A. Quirrenbach
Heidelberg University
S. Stock
Heidelberg University
V. Van Eylen
University College London (UCL)
G. Nowak
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
E. D. Lopez
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Szilard Csizmadia
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
M. Zapatero-Osorio
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
P. Schöfer
University of Göttingen
J. Lillo-Box
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
M. Oshagh
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
E. González-Álvarez
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
P. J. Amado
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
D. Barrado
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
V. J. S. Bejar
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
B. Cale
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
P. Chaturvedi
Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg
C. Cifuentes
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
W. D. Cochran
University of Texas
K. I. Collins
George Mason University
M. Cortés-Contreras
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
E. Díez Alonso
University of Oviedo
M. El Mufti
University of Khartoum
George Mason University
A. Ercolino
Campo Catino Astronomical Observatory
Malcolm Fridlund
Leiden University
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
E. Gaidos
University of Hawaii
R. A. Garcia
University Paris-Saclay
Iskra Georgieva
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
L. Gonzalez-Cuesta
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
P. Guerra
Albanyà Astronomical Observatory
Artie P. Hatzes
Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg
Th Henning
Max Planck Society
E. Herrero
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
D. Hidalgo
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
G. Isopi
Campo Catino Astronomical Observatory
S. V. Jeffers
University of Göttingen
J. M. Jenkins
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
E. L. N. Jensen
Swarthmore College
P. Kabath
Czech Academy of Sciences
A. Kaminski
Heidelberg University
J. Kemmer
Heidelberg University
Judith Korth
University of Cologne
D. Kossakowski
Max Planck Society
M. Kürster
Max Planck Society
M. Lafarga
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
F. Mallia
Campo Catino Astronomical Observatory
D. Montes
Complutense University
J. C. Morales
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
M. Morales-Calderon
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
F. Murgas
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
N. Narita
University of Tokyo
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
V. M. Passegger
University of Hamburg
University of Oklahoma
S. Pedraz
CAHA- Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán
Carina Persson
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
P. Plavchan
George Mason University
H. Rauer
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Technische Universität Berlin
S. Redfield
Wesleyan University
S. Reffert
Heidelberg University
A. Reiners
University of Göttingen
I Ribas
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
G. Ricker
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
C. Rodíguez-López
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
A. R. G. Santos
Space Science Institute
S. Seager
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
M. Schlecker
Max Planck Society
A. Schweitzer
University of Hamburg
Y. Shan
University of Göttingen
M. G. Soto
Queen Mary University of London
J. Subjak
Czech Academy of Sciences
L. Tal-Or
Ariel University
University of Göttingen
T. Trifonov
Max Planck Society
S. Vanaverbeke
KU Leuven
AstroLAB IRIS
R. Vanderspek
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
J. Wittrock
George Mason University
M. Zechmeister
University of Göttingen
F. Zohrabi
Mississippi State University
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 639 A132Exoplanets from space – CHEOPS and PLATO, ESA’s next two projects
Swedish National Space Board (174/18), 2017-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Roots
Basic sciences
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202038160