Bibcode
Nabbie, Emma; Huang, Chelsea X.; Korth, Judith; Parviainen, Hannu; Wang, Su; Venner, Alexander; Wittenmyer, Robert; Bieryla, Allyson; Latham, David W.; Li, Gongjie; Lin, Douglas N. C.; Zhou, George
Bibliographical reference
Nature Astronomy
Advertised on:
9
2025
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0
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0
Description
Few planetary systems have measured mutual inclinations, and even fewer are found to be non-coplanar. Observing the gravitational interactions between exoplanets is an effective tool to detect non-transiting companions to transiting planets. Evidence of these interactions can manifest in the light curve through transit timing variations (TTVs) and transit duration variations (TDVs). Here, through analysis of Kepler photometry and joint TTV-TDV modelling, we confirm the detection of KOI-134 b, a transiting planet with mass and size similar to Jupiter on a period of ~67 days, and find that it exhibits high TTVs (20-h amplitude) and significant TDVs. We explain these signals with the presence of an innermost non-transiting planet in 2:1 resonance with KOI-134 b. KOI-134 c has a mass M =0.22 0−0.011+0.010MJup and a moderately high mutual inclination with KOI-134 b of imut=15 .4−2.5+2 .8∘. Moreover, the inclination variations of KOI-134 b are so large that the planet is predicted to stop transiting in about 100 years. This system architecture cannot be easily explained by any one formation mechanism, with other dynamical effects needed to excite the planets' mutual inclination while still preserving their resonance.
Related projects
Exoplanets and Astrobiology
The search for life in the universe has been driven by recent discoveries of planets around other stars (known as exoplanets), becoming one of the most active fields in modern astrophysics. The growing number of new exoplanets discovered in recent years and the recent advance on the study of their atmospheres are not only providing new valuable
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Pallé Bago