A Second Planet Transiting LTT 1445A and a Determination of the Masses of Both Worlds

Winters, Jennifer G.; Cloutier, Ryan; Medina, Amber A.; Irwin, Jonathan M.; Charbonneau, David; Astudillo-Defru, Nicola; Bonfils, Xavier; Howard, Andrew W.; Isaacson, Howard; Bean, Jacob L.; Seifahrt, Andreas; Teske, Johanna K.; Eastman, Jason D.; Twicken, Joseph D.; Collins, Karen A.; Jensen, Eric L. N.; Quinn, Samuel N.; Payne, Matthew J.; Kristiansen, Martti H.; Spencer, Alton; Vanderburg, Andrew; Zechmeister, Mathias; Weiss, Lauren M.; Wang, Sharon Xuesong; Wang, Gavin; Udry, Stéphane; Terentev, Ivan A.; Stürmer, Julian; Stefánsson, Gudmundur; Shporer, Avi; Shectman, Stephen; Sefako, Ramotholo; Schwengeler, Hans Martin; Schwarz, Richard P.; Scarsdale, Nicholas; Rubenzahl, Ryan A.; Roy, Arpita; Rosenthal, Lee J.; Robertson, Paul; Petigura, Erik A.; Pepe, Francesco; Omohundro, Mark; Murphy, Joseph M. Akana; Murgas, Felipe; Močnik, Teo; Montet, Benjamin T.; Mennickent, Ronald; Mayo, Andrew W.; Massey, Bob; Lubin, Jack; Lovis, Christophe; Lewin, Pablo; Kasper, David; Kane, Stephen R.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Huber, Daniel; Horne, Keith; Hill, Michelle L.; Gorrini, Paula; Giacalone, Steven; Fulton, Benjamin; Forveille, Thierry; Figueira, Pedro; Fetherolf, Tara; Dressing, Courtney; Díaz, Rodrigo F.; Delfosse, Xavier; Dalba, Paul A.; Dai, Fei; Cortés, C. C.; Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Crane, Jeffrey D.; Conti, Dennis M.; Collins, Kevin I.; Chontos, Ashley; Butler, R. Paul; Brown, Peyton; Brady, Madison; Behmard, Aida; Beard, Corey; Batalha, Natalie M.; Almenara, Jose-Manuel
Bibliographical reference

The Astronomical Journal

Advertised on:
4
2022
Number of authors
82
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
30
Refereed citations
27
Description
LTT 1445 is a hierarchical triple M-dwarf star system located at a distance of 6.86 pc. The primary star LTT 1445A (0.257 M ⊙) is known to host the transiting planet LTT 1445Ab with an orbital period of 5.36 days, making it the second-closest known transiting exoplanet system, and the closest one for which the host is an M dwarf. Using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite data, we present the discovery of a second planet in the LTT 1445 system, with an orbital period of 3.12 days. We combine radial-velocity measurements obtained from the five spectrographs, Echelle Spectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations, High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer, MAROON-X, and Planet Finder Spectrograph to establish that the new world also orbits LTT 1445A. We determine the mass and radius of LTT 1445Ab to be 2.87 ± 0.25 M ⊕ and ${1.304}_{-0.060}^{+0.067}$ R ⊕, consistent with an Earth-like composition. For the newly discovered LTT 1445Ac, we measure a mass of ${1.54}_{-0.19}^{+0.20}$ M ⊕ and a minimum radius of 1.15 R ⊕, but we cannot determine the radius directly as the signal-to-noise ratio of our light curve permits both grazing and nongrazing configurations. Using MEarth photometry and ground-based spectroscopy, we establish that star C (0.161 M ⊙) is likely the source of the 1.4 day rotation period, and star B (0.215 M ⊙) has a likely rotation period of 6.7 days. We estimate a probable rotation period of 85 days for LTT 1445A. Thus, this triple M-dwarf system appears to be in a special evolutionary stage where the most massive M dwarf has spun down, the intermediate mass M dwarf is in the process of spinning down, while the least massive stellar component has not yet begun to spin down.
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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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