MuSCAT3 Archives

Location of the validated and non-validated planet candidates in the period-radius diagram. The red polygons show the non-validated candidates, the dark-green polygons show the validated planets, and the orange polygons show the candidates which validation status is only suggestive. The grey circles show the population of all validated planets with radius uncertainties below 10%, and the blue circles highlight those planets orbiting M-type stars. The blue-shaded region shows the Neptune desert as defined by Mazeh et al. (2016). However, in recent years, this region has become more populated, and the boundaries of the desert do not match the typical definitions any longer. Thus, we suggest the pink-shaded area, where the scarcity of planets is noteworthy, as an updated definition of the Neptune desert based on the current population of known planets. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Validation Of Up To Seven TESS Planet Candidates Through Multi-colour Transit Photometry Using MuSCAT2 Data

by Keith CowingSeptember 12, 2024September 12, 2024

The TESS mission searches for transiting exoplanets by monitoring the brightness of hundreds of thousands of stars across the entire sky.

Artist’s conception of the newly discovered planet Gliese 12 b, which is orbiting a red dwarf star located 40 light-years away. This artist's conception assumes that the planet retains a tenuous atmosphere. Future follow-up observations will clarify what kind of atmosphere the planet actually retains. CREDIT NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Mars, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Venus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Gliese 12 b: Earth Twin or Evil Twin

by Keith CowingJuly 8, 2024July 7, 2024

The discovery of a planet similar to Venus around a star in the neighborhood of the Solar System raises hopes that astronomers may someday unlock the secret to why life […]

TOI-2266 b’s location in the period-radius plane with the currently known planets orbiting M dwarfs. The planets without sufficiently precise density estimates are shown as grey crosses (From exoplanet.eu, accessed 2023 April 24), while the planets with well-constrained densities from the catalogue by Luque & Pallé (2022) are separated by their likely type: rocky planets are shown as black dots, water worlds as blue circles, and sub-Neptunes as green circles. The upper radius limits for rocky planets for the gas-depleted formation and thermally-driven mass loss scenarios are drawn as dashed lines. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

TOI-2266 b: A Keystone Super-Earth At The Edge Of The M dwarf Radius Valley

by Keith CowingJanuary 24, 2024January 23, 2024

We validate the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) object of interest TOI-2266.01 (TIC 348911) as a small transiting planet (most likely a super-Earth) orbiting a faint M5 dwarf (V=16.54) on […]