SIMBAD references

2016ApJ...830...43E - Astrophys. J., 830, 43-43 (2016/October-2)

Discovery and validation of a high-density sub-Neptune from the K2 mission.

ESPINOZA N., BRAHM R., JORDAN A., JENKINS J.S., ROJAS F., JOFRE P., MADLER T., RABUS M., CHANAME J., PANTOJA B., SOTO M.G., MORZINSKI K.M., MALES J.R., WARD-DUONG K. and CLOSE L.M.

Abstract (from CDS):

We report the discovery of K2-56b, a high-density sub-Neptune exoplanet, made using photometry from Campaign 4 of the two-wheeled Kepler (K2) mission, ground-based radial velocity (RV) follow-up from HARPS and high-resolution lucky and adaptive optics imaging obtained using AstraLux and MagAO, respectively. The host star is a bright (V=11.04, Ks=9.37), slightly metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-0.15±0.05 dex) solar analogue located at 152.1–7.4+9.7 pc from Earth, for which we find a radius of R*=0.928–0.040+0.055R and a mass of M*=0.961–0.029+0.032M. A joint analysis of the K2 photometry and HARPS RVs reveal that the planet is in a ≃42 day orbit around its host star, has a radius of 2.23–0.11+0.14R, and a mass of 16.3–6.1+6.0M. Although the data at hand put the planet in the region of the mass-radius diagram where we could expect planets with a pure rock (i.e., magnesium silicate) composition using two-layer models (i.e., between rock/iron and rock/ice compositions), we discuss more realistic three-layer composition models which can explain the high density of the discovered exoplanet. The fact that the planet lies in the boundary between "possibly rocky" and "non-rocky" exoplanets makes it an interesting planet for future RV follow-up.

Abstract Copyright: © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Journal keyword(s): planets and satellites: composition - planets and satellites: detection - planets and satellites: fundamental parameters - planets and satellites: terrestrial planets - planets and satellites: terrestrial planets

Simbad objects: 19

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