KEPLER-63b: A GIANT PLANET IN A POLAR ORBIT AROUND A YOUNG SUN-LIKE STAR

Journal Article · Fri Sep 20 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/775/1/54· OSTI ID:22270941

Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto; Winn, Joshua N.; Albrecht, Simon ^[1]; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard ^[2]; Howard, Andrew W. ^[3]; Johnson, John Asher ^[4]; Torres, Guillermo; Carter, Joshua A.; Dawson, Rebekah I.; Geary, John C. ^[5]; Campante, Tiago L.; Chaplin, William J.; Davies, Guy R. ^[6]; Lund, Mikkel N. ^[7]; Buchhave, Lars A. ^[8]; Everett, Mark E. ^[9]; Fischer, Debra A. ^[10]; Gilliland, Ronald L. ^[11]; Horch, Elliott P. ^[12] ; others, and

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1. Department of Physics, and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
2. Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
3. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
4. Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
5. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
6. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom)
7. Stellar Astrophysics Centre (SAC), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark)
8. Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark)
9. National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)
10. Astronomy Department, Yale University, New Haven, CT (United States)
11. Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
12. Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 06515 (United States)

We present the discovery and characterization of a giant planet orbiting the young Sun-like star Kepler-63 (KOI-63, m{sub Kp} = 11.6, T{sub eff} = 5576 K, M{sub *} = 0.98 M{sub ☉}). The planet transits every 9.43 days, with apparent depth variations and brightening anomalies caused by large starspots. The planet's radius is 6.1 ± 0.2 R{sub ⊕}, based on the transit light curve and the estimated stellar parameters. The planet's mass could not be measured with the existing radial-velocity data, due to the high level of stellar activity, but if we assume a circular orbit, then we can place a rough upper bound of 120 M{sub ⊕} (3σ). The host star has a high obliquity (ψ = 104°), based on the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and an analysis of starspot-crossing events. This result is valuable because almost all previous obliquity measurements are for stars with more massive planets and shorter-period orbits. In addition, the polar orbit of the planet combined with an analysis of spot-crossing events reveals a large and persistent polar starspot. Such spots have previously been inferred using Doppler tomography, and predicted in simulations of magnetic activity of young Sun-like stars.

• OSTI ID: 22270941
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 775, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
MASS
ORBITS
PLANETS
RADIAL VELOCITY
ROTATION
STARSPOTS
SUN
VARIATIONS
VISIBLE RADIATION