HATS-5b: A Transiting Hot Saturn from the HATSouth Survey

We report the discovery of HATS-5b, a transiting hot Saturn orbiting a G-type star, by the HATSouth survey. HATS-5b has a mass of M_p ≈ 0.24 M _J, radius of R_p ≈ 0.91 R _J, and transits its host star with a period of P ≈ 4.7634 days. The radius of HATS-5b is consistent with both theoretical and empirical models. The host star has a V-band magnitude of 12.6, mass of 0.94 M _⊙, and radius of 0.87 R _⊙. The relatively high scale height of HATS-5b and the bright, photometrically quiet host star make this planet a favorable target for future transmission spectroscopy follow-up observations. We reexamine the correlations in radius, equilibrium temperature, and metallicity of the close-in gas giants and find hot Jupiter-mass planets to exhibit the strongest dependence between radius and equilibrium temperature. We find no significant dependence in radius and metallicity for the close-in gas giant population.

The HATSouth network is operated by a collaboration consisting of Princeton University (PU), the Max Planck Institute für Astronomie (MPIA), and the Australian National University (ANU). The station at Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) of the Carnegie Institute is operated by PU in conjunction with collaborators at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), the station at the High Energy Spectroscopic Survey (HESS) site is operated in conjunction with MPIA, and the station at Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) is operated jointly with ANU. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.