Planet Hunters TESS. V. A Planetary System Around a Binary Star, Including a Mini-Neptune in the Habitable Zone

Journal article

We report on the discovery and validation of a transiting long-period mini-Neptune orbiting a bright (V = 9.0 mag) G dwarf (TOI 4633; R = 1.05 R ⊙, M = 1.10 M ⊙). The planet was identified in data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite by citizen scientists taking part in the Planet Hunters TESS project. Modelling of the transit events yields an orbital period of 271.9445 ± 0.0040 days and radius of 3.2 ± 0.20 R ⊕. The Earth-like orbital period and an incident flux of 1.56−0.16+0.20 F ⊕ places it in the optimistic habitable zone around the star. Doppler spectroscopy of the system allowed us to place an upper mass limit on the transiting planet and revealed a non-transiting planet candidate in the system with a period of 34.15 ± 0.15 days. Furthermore, the combination of archival data dating back to 1905 with new high angular resolution imaging revealed a stellar companion orbiting the primary star with an orbital period of around 230 yr and an eccentricity of about 0.9. The long period of the transiting planet, combined with the high eccentricity and close approach of the companion star makes this a valuable system for testing the formation and stability of planets in binary systems.

Authors: Eisner, NL; Grunblatt, SK; Barragán, O; Faridani, TH; Lintott, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Journal: Astronomical Journal
• Volume: 167
• Issue: 5
• Article number: 241
• Publication date: 2024-04-30
• Acceptance date: 2024-01-09
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad1d5c
• EISSN: 1538-3881
• ISSN: 0004-6256
• Language: English
• Keywords: Exoplanet systems; Mini Neptunes; Habitable zone; Transit photometry; Radial velocity; Exoplanet dynamics; Binary stars