TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME). X. A Two-planet System in the 210 Myr MELANGE-5 Association
Abstract
Young (<500 Myr) planets are critical to studying how planets form and evolve. Among these young planetary systems, multiplanet configurations are particularly useful, as they provide a means to control for variables within a system. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of a young planetary system, TOI-1224. We show that the planet host resides within a young population we denote as MELANGE-5. By employing a range of age-dating methods—isochrone fitting, lithium abundance analysis, gyrochronology, and Gaia excess variability—we estimate the age of MELANGE-5 to be 210 ± 27 Myr. MELANGE-5 is situated in close proximity to previously identified younger (80–110 Myr) associations, Crius 221 and Theia 424/Volans-Carina, motivating further work to map out the group boundaries. In addition to a planet candidate detected by the TESS pipeline and alerted as a TESS object of interest, TOI-1224 b, we identify a second planet, TOI-1224 c, using custom search tools optimized for young stars (Notch and LOCoR). We find that the planets are 2.10 ± 0.09 R ⊕ and 2.88 ± 0.10 R ⊕ and orbit their host star every 4.18 and 17.95 days, respectively. With their bright (K = 9.1 mag), small (R * = 0.44 R ⊙), and cool (T eff = 3326 K) host star, these planets represent excellent candidates for atmospheric characterization with JWST.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- July 2024
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-3881/ad4993
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2406.05234
- Bibcode:
- 2024AJ....168...41T
- Keywords:
-
- Exoplanet astronomy;
- Transit photometry;
- Stellar ages;
- Young star clusters;
- Stellar activity;
- Transit timing variation method;
- 486;
- 1709;
- 1581;
- 1833;
- 1580;
- 1710;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal