Hint of an exocomet transit in the CHEOPS light curve of HD 172555
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2023

HD 172555 is a young (∼20 Myr) A7V star surrounded by a 10 au wide debris disk suspected to be replenished partly by collisions between large planetesimals. Small evaporating transiting bodies, that is exocomets, have also been detected in this system by spectroscopy. After β Pictoris, this is another example of a system possibly witnessing a phase of the heavy bombardment of planetesimals. In such a system, small bodies trace dynamical evolution processes. We aim to constrain their dust content by using transit photometry. We performed a 2-day-long photometric monitoring of HD 172555 with the CHEOPS space telescope in order to detect shallow transits of exocomets with a typical expected duration of a few hours. The large oscillations in the light curve indicate that HD 172555 is a δ Scuti pulsating star. After removing those dominating oscillations, we found a hint of a transient absorption. If fitted with an exocomet transit model, it would correspond to an evaporating body passing near the star at a distance of 6.8±1.4R∗ (or 0.05±0.01 au) with a radius of 2.5 km. These properties are comparable to those of the exocomets already found in this system using spectroscopy, as well as those found in the β Pic system. The nuclei of the Solar System's Jupiter family comets, with radii of 2-6 km, are also comparable in size. This is the first piece of evidence of an exocomet photometric transit detection in the young system of HD 172555.

Comets: general

Stars: variables: δ Scuti

Stars: individual: HD 172555

Techniques: photometric

Circumstellar matter

Författare

F. Kiefer

Observatoire de Paris

Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris

V. Van Grootel

Universite de Liège

A. L. des Etangs

Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris

Gy M. Szabó

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

A. Brandeker

Stockholms universitet

C. Broeg

Universität Bern

A. Collier Cameron

University of St Andrews

A. Deline

Université de Genève

G. Olofsson

Stockholms universitet

T. G. Wilson

University of St Andrews

S. G. Sousa

Universidade do Porto

D. Gandolfi

Universita degli Studi di Torino

G. Hebrard

Observatoire de Haute-Provence

Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris

Y. Alibert

Universität Bern

R. Alonso

Universidad de la Laguna

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

G. Anglada

Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC)

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)

T. Bárczy

Admatis

D. Barrado

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

S. C.C. Barros

Universidade do Porto

W. Baumjohann

Institut fur Weltraumforschung

M. Beck

Université de Genève

T. Beck

Universität Bern

W. Benz

Universität Bern

N. Billot

Université de Genève

X. Bonfils

Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG)

J. Cabrera

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

S. Charnoz

Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris

Szilard Csizmadia

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

M. B. Davies

Lunds universitet

M. Deleuil

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

L. Delrez

Universite de Liège

O. Demangeon

Universidade do Porto

B.O. Demory

Universität Bern

D. Ehrenreich

Université de Genève

Anders Erikson

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

A. Fortier

Universität Bern

L. Fossati

Institut fur Weltraumforschung

Malcolm Fridlund

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik

Universiteit Leiden

Michaël Gillon

Universite de Liège

M. Gudel

Universität Wien

Kevin Heng

The University of Warwick

Universität Bern

S. Hoyer

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

K. Isaak

European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)

L.L. Kiss

Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

J. Laskar

Observatoire de Paris

M. Lendl

Université de Genève

C. Lovis

Université de Genève

D. Magrin

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

P. Maxted

Keele University

M. Munari

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Valerio Nascimbeni

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

R. Ottensamer

Universität Wien

I. Pagano

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

E. Palle

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

G. Peter

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

D. Piazza

Universität Bern

Giampaolo P. Piotto

Università di Padova

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

D. Pollacco

The University of Warwick

D. Queloz

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

University of Cambridge

Roberto Ragazzoni

Università di Padova

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

N. Rando

European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)

F. Ratti

European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)

H. Rauer

Technische Universität Berlin

Freie Universität Berlin

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

C. Reimers

Universität Wien

I. Ribas

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)

Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC)

N. C. Santos

Universidade do Porto

Gaetano Scandariato

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

D. Segransan

Université de Genève

A.E. Simon

Universität Bern

A. M.S. Smith

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Manfred B. Steller

Institut fur Weltraumforschung

N. Thomas

Universität Bern

S. Udry

Université de Genève

I. Walter

Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

N. A. Walton

University of Cambridge

Astronomy and Astrophysics

0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)

Vol. 671 A25

Satellitstudier av exoplaneters mångfald

Rymdstyrelsen (174/18), 2019-02-04 -- 2023-08-01.

Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2011)

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

Atom- och molekylfysik och optik

Annan fysik

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202245104

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2025-03-09