Populating the exoplanet mass–radius diagram in order to identify the underlying relationship that governs planet composition is driving an interdisciplinary effort within the exoplanet community. The discovery of hot super-Earths—a high-temperature, short-period subset of the super-Earth planet population—has presented many unresolved questions concerning the formation, evolution, and composition of rocky planets. We report the discovery of a transiting, ultra-short-period hot super-Earth orbiting
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Abstract TOI-1075 (TIC351601843) , a nearby (d = 61.4 pc) late-K/early-M-dwarf star, using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. The newly discovered planet has a radius of 1.791R ⊕and an orbital period of 0.605 day (14.5 hr). We precisely measure the planet mass to be 9.95M ⊕using radial velocity measurements obtained with the Planet Finder Spectrograph mounted on the Magellan II telescope. Our radial velocity data also show a long-term trend, suggesting an additional planet in the system. While TOI-1075 b is expected to have a substantial H/He atmosphere given its size relative to the radius gap, its high density ( g cm−3) is likely inconsistent with this possibility. We explore TOI-1075 b’s location relative to the M-dwarf radius valley, evaluate the planet’s prospects for atmospheric characterization, and discuss potential planet formation mechanisms. Studying the TOI-1075 system in the broader context of ultra-short-period planetary systems is necessary for testing planet formation and evolution theories and density-enhancing mechanisms and for future atmospheric and surface characterization studies via emission spectroscopy with the JWST. -
Abstract Mature super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are predicted to be ≃ Jovian radius when younger than 10 Myr. Thus, we expect to find 5–15
R ⊕planets around young stars even if their older counterparts harbor none. We report the discovery and validation of TOI 1227b, a 0.85 ± 0.05R J(9.5R ⊕) planet transiting a very-low-mass star (0.170 ± 0.015M ⊙) every 27.4 days. TOI 1227's kinematics and strong lithium absorption confirm that it is a member of a previously discovered subgroup in the Lower Centaurus Crux OB association, which we designate the Musca group. We derive an age of 11 ± 2 Myr for Musca, based on lithium, rotation, and the color–magnitude diagram of Musca members. The TESS data and ground-based follow-up show a deep (2.5%) transit. We use multiwavelength transit observations and radial velocities from the IGRINS spectrograph to validate the signal as planetary in nature, and we obtain an upper limit on the planet mass of ≃0.5M J. Because such large planets are exceptionally rare around mature low-mass stars, we suggest that TOI 1227b is still contracting and will eventually turn into one of the more common <5R ⊕planets.