TOI-2109: An Ultrahot Gas Giant on a 16 hr Orbit

We report the discovery of an ultrahot Jupiter with an extremely short orbital period of 0.67247414 ± 0.00000028 days (∼16 hr). The 1.347 ± 0.047 R Jup planet, initially identified by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, orbits TOI-2109 (TIC 392476080)—a T eff ∼ 6500 K F-type star with a mass of 1.447 ± 0.077 M ☉, a radius of 1.698 ± 0.060 R ☉, and a rotational velocity of v sin i * = 81.9 ± 1.7 km s−1. The planetary nature of TOI-2109b was confirmed through radial-velocity measurements, which yielded a planet mass of 5.02 ± 0.75 M Jup. Analysis of the Doppler shadow in spectroscopic transit observations indicates a well-aligned system, with a sky-projected obliquity of λ = 1.°7 ± 1.°7. From the TESS full-orbit light curve, we measured a secondary eclipse depth of 731 ± 46 ppm, as well as phase-curve variations from the planet’s longitudinal brightness modulation and ellipsoidal distortion of the host star. Combining the TESS-band occultation measurement with a K s -band secondary eclipse depth (2012 ± 80 ppm) derived from ground-based observations, we find that the dayside emission of TOI-2109b is consistent with a brightness temperature of 3631 ± 69 K, making it the second hottest exoplanet hitherto discovered. By virtue of its extreme irradiation and strong planet–star gravitational interaction, TOI-2109b is an exceptionally promising target for intensive follow-up studies using current and near-future telescope facilities to probe for orbital decay, detect tidally driven atmospheric escape, and assess the impacts of H2 dissociation and recombination on the global heat transport.

Simulation of the orbital decay of a spacecraft in low Earth orbit due to aerodynamic drag

Orbiting objects in space are exposed to the risk of collision with space debris over their lifetime. Space debris orbiting in space experiences orbital decay due to various orbital perturbations. This work considers only orbital perturbations due to aerodynamic forces, which spacecraft experience due to the presence of a rarefied atmosphere, causing tumbling motion and orbital decay. Analysis of the orbital decay of a spacecraft is carried out by considering the variation of the drag coefficient as a function of its shape, motion and angle-of-attack. An in-house Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) solver is modified for aerodynamic analysis of a spacecraft orbiting in the free molecular regime in low Earth orbit. In addition, an orbital dynamics model is developed to simulate the tumbling motion of a spacecraft and its orbital decay. The orbital decay trajectory is predicted for two sample spacecrafts using the aerodynamic coefficients obtained from the in-house DSMC solver as inputs to the orbital decay model. This study analyses and explores in detail the effects of the aerodynamic coefficients and shape of a spacecraft on its orbital decay.

The impact of tidal friction evolution on the orbital decay of ultra-short period planets

Unveiling the fate of ultra-short period (USP) planets may help us understand the qualitative agreement between tidal theory and the observed exoplanet distribution. Nevertheless, due to the time-varying interchange of spin-orbit angular momentum in star-planet systems, the expected amount of tidal friction is unknown and depends on the dissipative properties of stellar and planetary interiors. In this work, we couple structural changes in the star and the planet resulting from the energy released per tidal cycle and simulate the orbital evolution of USP planets and the spin-up produced on their host star. For the first time, we allow the strength of magnetic braking to vary within a model that includes photo-evaporation, drag caused by the stellar wind, stellar mass loss, and stellar wind enhancement due to the in-falling USP planet. We apply our model to the two exoplanets with the shortest periods known to date, NGTS-10b and WASP-19b. We predict they will undergo orbital decay in time-scales that depend on the evolution of the tidal dissipation reservoir inside the star, as well as the contribution of the stellar convective envelope to the transfer of angular momentum. Contrary to previous work, which predicted mid-transit time shifts of ∼30 − 190 s over 10 years, we found that such changes would be smaller than 10 s. We note this is sensitive to the assumptions about the dissipative properties of the system. Our results have important implications for the search for observational evidence of orbital decay in USP planets, using present and future observational campaigns.

Phase curve and variability analysis of WASP-12b using TESS photometry

We analyse Sector 20 TESS photometry of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-12b, and extract its phase curve to study the planet’s atmospheric properties. We successfully recover the phase curve with an amplitude of 549 ± 62 ppm, and a secondary eclipse depth of 609$^{+74}_{-73}$ ppm. The peak of the phase curve is shifted by 0.049 ± 0.015 in phase, implying that the brightest spot in the atmosphere is shifted from the substellar point towards the planet’s evening terminator. Assuming zero albedo, the eclipse depth infers a day-side brightness temperature of 3128$^{+64}_{-68}$ K. No significant detection of flux from the night-side is found at 60 ± 97 ppm, implying a night-side brightness temperature of <2529 K (1-σ). We do not detect any significant variability in the light from the planet over the ∼27 days of the TESS observations. Finally, we note that an ephemeris model taking orbital decay into account provides a significantly better fit than a constant-period model.

HD 76920 b pinned down: A detailed analysis of the most eccentric planetary system around an evolved star

We present 63 new multi-site radial velocity (RV) measurements of the K1III giant HD 76920, which was recently reported to host the most eccentric planet known to orbit an evolved star. We focused our observational efforts on the time around the predicted periastron passage and achieved near-continuous phase coverage of the corresponding RV peak. By combining our RV measurements from four different instruments with previously published ones, we confirm the highly eccentric nature of the system and find an even higher eccentricity of $e=0.8782 \pm 0.0025$ , an orbital period of $415.891^{+0.043}_{-0.039}\,\textrm{d}$ , and a minimum mass of $3.13^{+0.41}_{-0.43}\,\textrm{M}_{\textrm{J}}$ for the planet. The uncertainties in the orbital elements are greatly reduced, especially for the period and eccentricity. We also performed a detailed spectroscopic analysis to derive atmospheric stellar parameters, and thus the fundamental stellar parameters ( $M_*, R_*, L_*$ ), taking into account the parallax from Gaia DR2, and independently determined the stellar mass and radius using asteroseismology. Intriguingly, at periastron, the planet comes to within 2.4 stellar radii of its host star’s surface. However, we find that the planet is not currently experiencing any significant orbital decay and will not be engulfed by the stellar envelope for at least another 50–80 Myr. Finally, while we calculate a relatively high transit probability of 16%, we did not detect a transit in the TESS photometry.