Exoplanets & Exomoons

Two Warm Super-Earths Transiting the Nearby M Dwarf TOI-2095

By Keith Cowing
astro-ph.EP
April 21, 2023
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Two Warm Super-Earths Transiting the Nearby M Dwarf TOI-2095
There are only two transits for TOI 2095.01 and only one for TOI 2095.02 in this sector, all with fairly low SNR, but there are no indications for false positives. Left: The difference image for TOI-2095 planet 1 for Sector 24, showing the position of the target (black star), the measured difference image photocenters from a point-spread-function and pixel-response-function (cyan triangle and red circle, respectively). Right: PDC SAP lightcurve of TOI-2059 for Sector 24 highlighting the two transits in the sector. Lower panels: Modshift results from DAVE, left for TOI-2095.01 and right for TOI 2095.02, respectively. The small panels show zoom-ins and corresponding fits to the primary transits, the odd and even transits, the most significant secondary transits, as well as to any additional negative (tertiary) or positive events. — astro-ph.EP

We report the detection and validation of two planets orbiting TOI-2095 (TIC 235678745). The host star is a 3700K M1V dwarf with a high proper motion. The star lies at a distance of 42 pc in a sparsely populated portion of the sky and is bright in the infrared (K=9).

With data from 24 Sectors of observation during TESS’s Cycles 2 and 4, TOI-2095 exhibits two sets of transits associated with super-Earth-sized planets. The planets have orbital periods of 17.7 days and 28.2 days and radii of 1.30 and 1.39 Earth radii, respectively. Archival data, preliminary follow-up observations, and vetting analyses support the planetary interpretation of the detected transit signals. The pair of planets have estimated equilibrium temperatures of approximately 400 K, with stellar insolations of 3.23 and 1.73 times that of Earth, placing them in the Venus zone.

The planets also lie in a radius regime signaling the transition between rock-dominated and volatile-rich compositions. They are thus prime targets for follow-up mass measurements to better understand the properties of warm, transition radius planets. The relatively long orbital periods of these two planets provide crucial data that can help shed light on the processes that shape the composition of small planets orbiting M dwarfs.

Elisa V. Quintana, Emily A. Gilbert, Thomas Barclay, Michele L. Silverstein, Joshua E. Schlieder, Ryan Cloutier, Samuel N. Quinn, Joseph E. Rodriguez, Andrew Vanderburg, Benjamin J. Hord, Dana R. Louie, Colby Ostberg, Stephen R. Kane, Kelsey Hoffman, Jason F. Rowe, Giada N. Arney, Prabal Saxena, Taran Richardson, Matthew S. Clement, Nicholas M. Kartvedt, Fred C. Adams, Marcus Alfred, Travis Berger, Allyson Bieryla, Paul Bonney, Patricia Boyd, Charles Cadieux, Douglas Caldwell, David R. Ciardi, David Charbonneau, Karen A. Collins, Knicole D. Colon, Dennis M. Conti, Mario Di Sora, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Jessie Dotson, Thomas Fauchez, Maximilian N. Günther, Christina Hedges, Giovanni Isopi, Erika Kohler, Ravi Kopparapu, Veselin B. Kostov, Jeffrey A. Larsen, Eric Lopez, Franco Mallia, Avi Mandell, Susan E. Mullally, Rishi R. Paudel, Brian P. Powell, George R. Ricker, Boris S. Safonov, Richard P. Schwarz, Ramotholo Sefako, Keivan G. Stassun, Robert Wilson, Joshua N. Winn, Roland K. Vanderspek

Comments: Submitted to AAS Journals
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2304.09189 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2304.09189v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Elisa Quintana
[v1] Tue, 18 Apr 2023 18:00:00 UTC (7,129 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.09189
Astrobiology

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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