The American Astronomical Society (AAS), established in 1899 and based in Washington, DC, is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America. Its membership of about 7,000 individuals also includes physicists, mathematicians, geologists, engineers, and others whose research and educational interests lie within the broad spectrum of subjects comprising contemporary astronomy. The mission of the AAS is to enhance and share humanity's scientific understanding of the universe.
A ~5M⊕ Super-Earth Orbiting GJ 436? The Power of Near-Grazing Transits
Ignasi Ribas,Andreu Font-Ribera, andJean-Philippe Beaulieu
Published 2008 March 25 • © 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
The Astrophysical Journal,Volume 677,Number 1Citation Ignasi Ribaset al 2008ApJ677 L59DOI 10.1086/587961
Ignasi Ribas
AFFILIATIONS
Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
The HOLMES collaboration
Andreu Font-Ribera
AFFILIATIONS
Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
The HOLMES collaboration
Jean-Philippe Beaulieu
AFFILIATIONS
The HOLMES collaboration
Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS (UMR 7095), Université Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Article metrics
661 Total downloads
0 Video abstract views
Permissions
Dates
- Received2008 January 21
- Accepted2008 March 3
- Published2008 March 25
Abstract
Most of the presently identified exoplanets have masses similar to that of Jupiter and therefore are assumed to be gaseous objects. With the ever-increasing interest in discovering lower mass planets, several of the so-called super-Earths (1M⊕ <M < 10M⊕), which are predicted to be rocky, have already been found. Here we report the possible discovery of a planet around the M-type star GJ 436 with a minimum mass of 4.7 ± 0.6M⊕ and a true mass of ~5M⊕, which would make it the least massive planet around a main-sequence star found to date. The planet is identified from its perturbations on an inner Neptune-mass transiting planet (GJ 436b), by pumping eccentricity and producing variations in the orbital inclination. Analysis of published radial velocity measurements indeed reveals a significant signal corresponding to an orbital period that is very close to the 2:1 mean motion resonance with the inner planet. The near-grazing nature of the transit makes it extremely sensitive to small changes in the inclination.
