Bibcode
Maciejewski, G.; Niedzielski, A.; Nowak, G.; Pallé, E.; Tingley, B.; Errmann, R.; Neuhäuser, R.
Bibliographical reference
Acta Astronomica, vol 64, no 4, p. 323-335
Advertised on:
12
2014
Citations
19
Refereed citations
17
Description
The GJ 436 system contains a transiting planet GJ 436 b which is a hot
analogue of Neptune on an eccentric orbit. Recently, two additional
transiting sub-Earth planets have been postulated in the literature. We
observed three transits of GJ 436 b over the course of three years using
two-meter class telescopes, each with a photometric precision better
than one millimagnitude. We studied system dynamics based on the
existence of the additional planets. We redetermined system parameters,
which were in agreement with those found in the literature. We refined
the orbital period of GJ 436 b and found no evidence of transit timing
variations. The orbital motion of the GJ 436 c planet candidate was
found to be significantly affected by the planet b with variations in
transit times at a level of 20 minutes. As the orbital period of the GJ
436 d planet candidate remains unknown, our numerical experiments rule
out orbits in low-order resonances with GJ 436 b. The GJ 436 system with
the hot Neptune and additional two Earth-like planets, if confirmed,
would be an important laboratory for studies of formation and evolution
of planetary systems.
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Pallé Bago