A full transit of v 2 Lupi d and the search for an exomoon in its Hill sphere with CHEOPS
Journal article, 2023
The planetary system around the naked-eye star v2 Lupi (HD 136352; TOI-2011) is composed of three exoplanets with masses of 4.7, 11.2, and 8.6 Earth masses (M⊕). The TESS and CHEOPS missions revealed that all three planets are transiting and have radii straddling the radius gap separating volatile-rich and volatile-poor super-earths. Only a partial transit of planet d had been covered so we re-observed an inferior conjunction of the long-period 8.6 M⊕ exoplanet v2 Lup d with the CHEOPS space telescope. We confirmed its transiting nature by covering its whole 9.1 h transit for the first time. We refined the planet transit ephemeris to P = 107.13610.0022+0.0019 days and Tc = 2459009.77590.0096+0.0101 BJDTDB, improving by ~40 times on the previously reported transit timing uncertainty. This refined ephemeris will enable further follow-up of this outstanding long-period transiting planet to search for atmospheric signatures or explore the planet s Hill sphere in search for an exomoon. In fact, the CHEOPS observations also cover the transit of a large fraction of the planet s Hill sphere, which is as large as the Earth s, opening the tantalising possibility of catching transiting exomoons. We conducted a search for exomoon signals in this single-epoch light curve but found no conclusive photometric signature of additional transiting bodies larger than Mars. Yet, only a sustained follow-up of v2 Lup d transits will warrant a comprehensive search for a moon around this outstanding exoplanet.
Planets and satellites: individual: HD 136352
Planets and satellites: general
Planets and satellites: detection
Author
D. Ehrenreich
University of Geneva
L. Delrez
University of Liège
B. Akinsanmi
University of Geneva
T. G. Wilson
University of St Andrews
A. Bonfanti
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
M. Beck
University of Geneva
W. Benz
University of Bern
S. Hoyer
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
D. Queloz
University of Cambridge
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
Y. Alibert
University of Bern
S. Charnoz
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
A. Collier Cameron
University of Liège
A. Deline
University of Geneva
M.J. Hooton
University of Bern
University of Cambridge
M. Lendl
University of Geneva
G. Olofsson
Stockholm University
S. G. Sousa
University of Porto
V. Adibekyan
University of Porto
R. Alonso
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
G. Anglada
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) - CSIC
Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)
D. Barrado
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
S.C.C. Barros
University of Porto
W. Baumjohann
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
T. Beck
University of Bern
A. Bekkelien
University of Geneva
M. Bergomi
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
N. Billot
University of Geneva
X. Bonfils
Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG)
A. Brandeker
Stockholm University
C. Broeg
University of Bern
T. Bárczy
Admatis
Z. K. Berta-Thompson
University of Colorado at Boulder
J. Cabrera
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
C. Corral Van Damme
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
Szilard Csizmadia
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
M. B. Davies
Lund University
M. Deleuil
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
O. Demangeon
University of Porto
B.O. Demory
University of Bern
J. P. Doty
Noqsi Aerospace Ltd.
Anders Erikson
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Michael Fausnaugh
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
H.-G. Florén
Stockholm University
A. Fortier
University of Bern
L. Fossati
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Malcolm Fridlund
Leiden University
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
D. Futyan
University of Geneva
D. Gandolfi
University of Turin
Michaël Gillon
University of Liège
P. Guterman
CS20330
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
M. Gudel
University of Vienna
Kevin Heng
The University of Warwick
University of Bern
K. Isaak
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
A. Jäckel
University of Bern
Jon M. Jenkins
NASA Ames Research Center
L.L. Kiss
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
J. Laskar
Paris Observatory
D. W. Latham
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
A. L. des Etangs
Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris
A. M. Levine
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
C. Lovis
University of Geneva
D. Magrin
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
P. Maxted
Keele University
E. H. Morgan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Valerio Nascimbeni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
H. P. Osborn
University of Bern
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
R. Ottensamer
University of Vienna
I. Pagano
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
E. Palle
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
G. Peter
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Giampaolo P. Piotto
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
University of Padua
D. Pollacco
The University of Warwick
Roberto Ragazzoni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
University of Padua
N. Rando
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
H. Rauer
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Technische Universität Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin
I. Ribas
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) - CSIC
Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)
G. R. Ricker
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
S. Salmon
University of Geneva
N. C. Santos
University of Porto
Gaetano Scandariato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
A.E. Simon
University of Bern
A. M.S. Smith
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
M. Steinberger
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Manfred B. Steller
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Gy M. Szabó
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
D. Segransan
University of Geneva
Avi Shporer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
N. Thomas
University of Bern
M. Tschentscher
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
S. Udry
University of Geneva
Roland K. Vanderspek
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
V. Van Grootel
University of Liège
N. A. Walton
University of Cambridge
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 671 A154Subject Categories
Subatomic Physics
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202244790