Ma, Bo; Ge, Jian; Muterspaugh, Matthew; Singer, Michael A.; Henry, Gregory W.; González Hernández, J. I.; Sithajan, Sirinrat; Jeram, Sarik; Williamson, Michael; Stassun, Keivan; Kimock, Benjamin; Varosi, Frank; Schofield, Sidney; Liu, Jian; Powell, Scott; Cassette, Anthony; Jakeman, Hali; Avner, Louis; Grieves, Nolan; Barnes, Rory; Zhao, Bo; Gilda, Sankalp; Grantham, Jim; Stafford, Greg; Savage, David; Bland, Steve; Ealey, Brent
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 480, Issue 2, p.2411-2422
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10
2018
Citations
24
Refereed citations
20
Description
The Dharma Planet Survey (DPS) aims to monitor about 150 nearby very
bright FGKM dwarfs (within 50 pc) during 2016-2020 for low-mass planet
detection and characterization using the TOU very high resolution
optical spectrograph (R ≈ 100 000, 380-900 nm). TOU was initially
mounted to the 2-m Automatic Spectroscopic Telescope at Fairborn
Observatory in 2013-2015 to conduct a pilot survey, then moved to the
dedicated 50-inch automatic telescope on Mt. Lemmon in 2016 to launch
the survey. Here, we report the first planet detection from DPS, a
super-Earth candidate orbiting a bright K dwarf star, HD 26965. It is
the second brightest star (V = 4.4 mag) on the sky with a super-Earth
candidate. The planet candidate has a mass of 8.47 ±
0.47MEarth, period of 42.38 ± 0.01 d, and eccentricity
of 0.04^{+0.05}_{-0.03}. This radial velocity (RV) signal was
independently detected by Díaz et al., but they could not confirm
if the signal is from a planet or stellar activity. The orbital period
of the planet is close to the rotation period of the star (39-44.5 d)
measured from stellar activity indicators. Our high precision
photometric campaign and line bisector analysis of this star do not find
any significant variations at the orbital period. Stellar RV jitters
modelled from star-spots and convection inhibition are also not strong
enough to explain the RV signal detected. After further comparing RV
data from the star's active magnetic phase and quiet magnetic phase, we
conclude that the RV signal is due to planetary-reflex motion and not
stellar activity.
Related projects
ARES: High Spectral Resolution
ARES (High Spectral Resolution) is a coordinated project which attempt to join and consolidate the efforts on instrument developments at high spectral resolution within the IAC. The goal is to launch the scientific programs that the IAC carries out on the search and characterization of exoplanets, in particular Earth-like exoplanets, on the
Jonay Isai
González Hernández