Bibcode
Hirano, T.; Dai, Fei; Livingston, John H.; Fujii, Yuka; Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael; Gandolfi, Davide; Redfield, Seth; Winn, Joshua N.; Guenther, Eike W.; Prieto-Arranz, J.; Albrecht, Simon; Barragan, Oscar; Cabrera, Juan; Cauley, P. Wilson; Csizmadia, Szilard; Deeg, H.; Eigmüller, Philipp; Erikson, Anders; Fridlund, Malcolm; Fukui, Akihiko; Grziwa, Sascha; Hatzes, Artie P.; Korth, Judith; Narita, Norio; Nespral, D.; Niraula, Prajwal; Nowak, G.; Pätzold, Martin; Palle, E.; Persson, Carina M.; Rauer, Heike; Ribas, Ignasi; Smith, Alexis M. S.; Van Eylen, Vincent
Bibliographical reference
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 155, Issue 3, article id. 124, 11 pp. (2018).
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3
2018
Citations
19
Refereed citations
17
Description
We report on the discovery of three transiting super-Earths around
K2-155 (EPIC 210897587), a relatively bright early M dwarf (V = 12.81
mag) observed during Campaign 13 of the NASA K2 mission. To characterize
the system and validate the planet candidates, we conducted speckle
imaging and high-dispersion optical spectroscopy, including radial
velocity measurements. Based on the K2 light curve and the spectroscopic
characterization of the host star, the planet sizes and orbital periods
are {1.55}-0.17+0.20 {R}\oplus and
6.34365 ± 0.00028 days for the inner planet;
{1.95}-0.22+0.27 {R}\oplus and
13.85402 ± 0.00088 days for the middle planet; and
{1.64}-0.17+0.18 {R}\oplus and 40.6835
± 0.0031 days for the outer planet. The outer planet (K2-155d) is
near the habitable zone, with an insolation 1.67 ± 0.38 times
that of the Earth. The planet’s radius falls within the range
between that of smaller rocky planets and larger gas-rich planets. To
assess the habitability of this planet, we present a series of
three-dimensional global climate simulations, assuming that K2-155d is
tidally locked and has an Earth-like composition and atmosphere. We find
that the planet can maintain a moderate surface temperature if the
insolation proves to be smaller than ∼1.5 times that of the Earth.
Doppler mass measurements, transit spectroscopy, and other follow-up
observations should be rewarding, as K2-155 is one of the optically
brightest M dwarfs known to harbor transiting planets.
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