TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME). VI. An 11 Myr Giant Planet Transiting a Very-low-mass Star in Lower Centaurus Crux
Abstract
Mature super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are predicted to be ≃ Jovian radius when younger than 10 Myr. Thus, we expect to find 5-15 R ⊕ planets around young stars even if their older counterparts harbor none. We report the discovery and validation of TOI 1227b, a 0.85 ± 0.05 R J (9.5 R ⊕) planet transiting a very-low-mass star (0.170 ± 0.015 M ⊙) every 27.4 days. TOI 1227's kinematics and strong lithium absorption confirm that it is a member of a previously discovered subgroup in the Lower Centaurus Crux OB association, which we designate the Musca group. We derive an age of 11 ± 2 Myr for Musca, based on lithium, rotation, and the color-magnitude diagram of Musca members. The TESS data and ground-based follow-up show a deep (2.5%) transit. We use multiwavelength transit observations and radial velocities from the IGRINS spectrograph to validate the signal as planetary in nature, and we obtain an upper limit on the planet mass of ≃0.5 M J. Because such large planets are exceptionally rare around mature low-mass stars, we suggest that TOI 1227b is still contracting and will eventually turn into one of the more common <5 R ⊕ planets.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- April 2022
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2110.09531
- Bibcode:
- 2022AJ....163..156M
- Keywords:
-
- Pre-main sequence stars;
- Transits;
- Exoplanet evolution;
- Exoplanet formation;
- Stellar associations;
- Stellar ages;
- OB associations;
- Time domain astronomy;
- Time series analysis;
- Late-type stars;
- Low mass stars;
- 1290;
- 1711;
- 491;
- 492;
- 1582;
- 1581;
- 1140;
- 2109;
- 1916;
- 909;
- 2050;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted to the Astronomical Journal. Minor updates during referee process and proofs