skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: KELT-8b: A highly inflated transiting hot jupiter and a new technique for extracting high-precision radial velocities from noisy spectra

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
; ;  [1];  [2]; ; ;  [3]; ;  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11]; ;  [12];  [13];  [14] more »; « less
  1. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai‘i, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292 (United States)
  3. Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States)
  5. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
  6. Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, 6740 Cortona Drive, Suite 102, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 (United States)
  7. Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)
  8. Societ Astronomica Lunae, Castelnuovo Magra I-19030, Via Montefrancio, 77—Italy (Italy)
  9. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
  10. Atalaia Group and Crow-Observatory, Portalegre (Portugal)
  11. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (United States)
  12. Department of Physics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015 (United States)
  13. Department of Physics, Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA 16172 (United States)
  14. Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

We announce the discovery of a highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter by the KELT-North survey. A global analysis including constraints from isochrones indicates that the V = 10.8 host star (HD 343246) is a mildly evolved, G dwarf with T{sub eff}=5754{sub −55}{sup +54} K, log g=4.078{sub −0.054}{sup +0.049}, [Fe/H]=0.272±0.038, an inferred mass M{sub ∗}=1.211{sub −0.066}{sup +0.078} M{sub ⊙}, and radius R{sub ∗}=1.67{sub −0.12}{sup +0.14} R{sub ⊙}. The planetary companion has a mass M{sub P}=0.867{sub −0.061}{sup +0.065} M{sub J}, radius R{sub P}=1.86{sub −0.16}{sup +0.18} R{sub J}, surface gravity log g{sub P}=2.793{sub −0.075}{sup +0.072}, and density ρ{sub P}=0.167{sub −0.038}{sup +0.047} g cm{sup −3}. The planet is on a roughly circular orbit with semimajor axis a=0.04571{sub −0.00084}{sup +0.00096} AU and eccentricity e=0.035{sub −0.025}{sup +0.050}. The best-fit linear ephemeris is T{sub 0}=2456883.4803±0.0007 BJD{sub TDB} and P=3.24406±0.00016 days. This planet is one of the most inflated of all known transiting exoplanets, making it one of the few members of a class of extremely low density, highly irradiated gas giants. The low stellar log g and large implied radius are supported by stellar density constraints from follow-up light curves, as well as an evolutionary and space motion analysis. We also develop a new technique to extract high-precision radial velocities from noisy spectra that reduces the observing time needed to confirm transiting planet candidates. This planet boasts deep transits of a bright star, a large inferred atmospheric scale height, and a high equilibrium temperature of T{sub eq}=1675{sub −55}{sup +61} K, assuming zero albedo and perfect heat redistribution, making it one of the best targets for future atmospheric characterization studies.

OSTI ID:
22882723
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 810, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Since 2009, the country of publication for this journal is the UK.; ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English