Browsing by Author "Cortes-Zuleta, Pia"

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    An ultrahot Neptune in the Neptune desert
    (2020) Jenkins, James S.; Diaz, Matias R.; Kurtovic, Nicolas T.; Espinoza, Nestor; Vines, Jose I.; Rojas, Pablo A. Pena; Brahm, Rafael; Torres, Pascal; Cortes-Zuleta, Pia; Soto, Maritza G.; Lopez, Eric D.; King, George W.; Wheatley, Peter J.; Winn, Joshua N.; Ciardi, David R.; Ricker, George; Vanderspek, Roland; Latham, David W.; Seager, Sara; Jenkins, Jon M.; Beichman, Charles A.; Bieryla, Allyson; Burke, Christopher J.; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Henze, Christopher E.; Klaus, Todd C.; McCauliff, Sean; Mori, Mayuko; Narita, Norio; Nishiumi, Taku; Tamura, Motohide; de Leon, Jerome Pitogo; Quinn, Samuel N.; Villasenor, Jesus Noel; Vezie, Michael; Lissauer, Jack J.; Collins, Karen A.; Collins, Kevin I.; Isopi, Giovanni; Mallia, Franco; Ercolino, Andrea; Petrovich, Cristobal; Jordan, Andres; Acton, Jack S.; Armstrong, David J.; Bayliss, Daniel; Bouchy, Francois; Belardi, Claudia; Bryant, Edward M.; Burleigh, Matthew R.; Cabrera, Juan; Casewell, Sarah L.; Chaushev, Alexander; Cooke, Benjamin F.; Eigmueller, Philipp; Erikson, Anders; Foxell, Emma; Gansicke, Boris T.; Gill, Samuel; Gillen, Edward; Guenther, Maximilian N.; Goad, Michael R.; Hooton, Matthew J.; Jackman, James A. G.; Louden, Tom; McCormac, James; Moyano, Maximiliano; Nielsen, Louise D.; Pollacco, Don; Queloz, Didier; Rauer, Heike; Raynard, Liam; Smith, Alexis M. S.; Tilbrook, Rosanna H.; Titz-Weider, Ruth; Turner, Oliver; Udry, Stephane; Walker, Simon. R.; Watson, Christopher A.; West, Richard G.; Palle, Enric; Ziegler, Carl; Law, Nicholas; Mann, Andrew W.
    About 1 out of 200 Sun-like stars has a planet with an orbital period shorter than one day: an ultrashort-period planet(1,2). All of the previously known ultrashort-period planets are either hot Jupiters, with sizes above 10 Earth radii (R-circle plus), or apparently rocky planets smaller than 2 R-circle plus. Such lack of planets of intermediate size (the `hot Neptune desert') has been interpreted as the inability of low-mass planets to retain any hydrogen/ helium (H/He) envelope in the face of strong stellar irradiation. Here we report the discovery of an ultrashort-period planet with a radius of 4.6 R-circle plus and a mass of 29 M-circle plus, firmly in the hot Neptune desert. Data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(3) revealed transits of the bright Sun-like star LTT 9779 every 0.79 days. The planet's mean density is similar to that of Neptune, and according to thermal evolution models, it has a H/He-rich envelope constituting 9.0(-2.9)(+2.7) % of the total mass. With an equilibrium temperature around 2,000 K, it is unclear how this `ultrahot Neptune' managed to retain such an envelope. Follow-up observations of the planet's atmosphere to better understand its origin and physical nature will be facilitated by the star's brightness (V-mag = 9.8).