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Current spectroscopic surveys are producing large catalogs of chemical abundances for stars of all types. The yttrium-to-magnesium ratio, [Y/Mg], has emerged as a candidate age indicator for solar twins in the local stellar neighborhood. However, it is unclear whether it is a viable age diagnostic for more diverse stellar types, so we investigate [Y/Mg] as an age indicator for the FGK-type planet host stars observed by Kepler. We find that the [Y/Mg] “Clock” is most precise for solar twins, with a [Y/Mg]/age slope ofm= −0.0370 ±0.0071 dex Gyr⁻¹andσ_Age= 2.6 Gyr. We attribute the lower precision compared to literature results to nonsolar twins contaminating our solar twin sample and recommend a 1.5 Gyr systematic uncertainty for stellar ages derived with any [Y/Mg]–Age relation. We also analyzed the [Y/Mg] Clock as a function ofT_eff,$\log g$, and metallicity individually and find no strong trends, but we compute statistically significant [Y/Mg]–Age relations for subsamples defined by ranges inT_eff,$\log g$, and metallicity. Finally, we compare [Y/Mg] and rotation ages and find statistically similar trends as for isochrone ages, although we find that rotation ages perform better for GK dwarfs while isochrones perform better for FG subgiants. We conclude that the [Y/Mg] Clock is most precise for solar twins and analogs but is also a useful age diagnostic for FGK stars.

 

Exoplanet systems with multiple transiting planets are natural laboratories for testing planetary astrophysics. One such system is HD 191939 (TOI 1339), a bright (V= 9) and Sun-like (G9V) star, which TESS found to host three transiting planets (b, c, and d). The planets have periods of 9, 29, and 38 days each with similar sizes from 3 to 3.4R_⊕. To further characterize the system, we measured the radial velocity (RV) of HD 191939 over 415 days with Keck/HIRES and APF/Levy. We find thatM_b= 10.4 ± 0.9M_⊕andM_c= 7.2 ± 1.4M_⊕, which are low compared to most known planets of comparable radii. The RVs yield only an upper limit onM_d(<5.8M_⊕at 2σ). The RVs further reveal a fourth planet (e) with a minimum mass of 0.34 ± 0.01M_Jupand an orbital period of 101.4 ± 0.4 days. Despite its nontransiting geometry, secular interactions between planet e and the inner transiting planets indicate that planet e is coplanar with the transiting planets (Δi< 10°). We identify a second high-mass planet (f) with 95% confidence intervals on mass between 2 and 11M_Jupand period between 1700 and 7200 days, based on a joint analysis of RVs and astrometry from Gaia and Hipparcos. As a bright star hosting multiple planets with well-measured masses, HD 191939 presents many options for comparative planetary astronomy, including characterization with JWST.

 

We present an analysis of the first 20 second cadence light curves obtained by the TESS space telescope during its extended mission. We find improved precision of 20 second data compared to 2 minute data for bright stars when binned to the same cadence (≈10%–25% better forT≲ 8 mag, reaching equal precision atT≈ 13 mag), consistent with pre-flight expectations based on differences in cosmic-ray mitigation algorithms. We present two results enabled by this improvement. First, we use 20 second data to detect oscillations in three solar analogs (γPav,ζTuc, andπMen) and use asteroseismology to measure their radii, masses, densities, and ages to ≈1%, ≈3%, ≈1%, and ≈20% respectively, including systematic errors. Combining our asteroseismic ages with chromospheric activity measurements, we find evidence that the spread in the activity–age relation is linked to stellar mass and thus the depth of the convection zone. Second, we combine 20 second data and published radial velocities to recharacterizeπMen c, which is now the closest transiting exoplanet for which detailed asteroseismology of the host star is possible. We show thatπMen c is located at the upper edge of the planet radius valley for its orbital period, confirming that it has likely retained a volatile atmosphere and that the “asteroseismic radius valley” remains devoid of planets. Our analysis favors a low eccentricity forπMen c (<0.1 at 68% confidence), suggesting efficient tidal dissipation (Q/k_2,1≲ 2400) if it formed via high-eccentricity migration. Combined, these early results demonstrate the strong potential of TESS 20 second cadence data for stellar astrophysics and exoplanet science.

 

Abstract The Kepler and TESS missions have demonstrated that planets are ubiquitous. However, the success of these missions heavily depends on ground-based radial velocity (RV) surveys, which combined with transit photometry can yield bulk densities and orbital properties. While most Kepler host stars are too faint for detailed follow-up observations, TESS is detecting planets orbiting nearby bright stars that are more amenable to RV characterization. Here, we introduce the TESS-Keck Survey (TKS), an RV program using ∼100 nights on Keck/HIRES to study exoplanets identified by TESS. The primary survey aims are investigating the link between stellar properties and the compositions of small planets; studying how the diversity of system architectures depends on dynamical configurations or planet multiplicity; identifying prime candidates for atmospheric studies with JWST; and understanding the role of stellar evolution in shaping planetary systems. We present a fully automated target selection algorithm, which yielded 103 planets in 86 systems for the final TKS sample. Most TKS hosts are inactive, solar-like, main-sequence stars (4500 K ≤ T eff <6000 K) at a wide range of metallicities. The selected TKS sample contains 71 small planets ( R p ≤ 4 R ⊕ ), 11 systems with multiple transiting candidates, six sub-day-period planets and three planets that are in or near the habitable zone ( S inc ≤ 10 S ⊕ ) of their host star. The target selection described here will facilitate the comparison of measured planet masses, densities, and eccentricities to predictions from planet population models. Our target selection software is publicly available and can be adapted for any survey that requires a balance of multiple science interests within a given telescope allocation. 

Abstract Our understanding of the properties and demographics of exoplanets critically relies on our ability to determine the fundamental properties of their host stars. The advent of Gaia and large spectroscopic surveys has now made it possible, in principle, to infer the properties of individual stars, including most exoplanet hosts, to very high precision. However, we show that, in practice, such analyses are limited by uncertainties in both the fundamental scale and our models of stellar evolution, even for stars similar to the Sun. For example, we show that current uncertainties on measured interferometric angular diameters and bolometric fluxes set a systematic uncertainty floor of ≈2.4% in temperature, ≈2.0% in luminosity, and ≈4.2% in radius. Comparisons between widely available model grids suggest uncertainties of order ≈5% in mass and ≈20% in age for main-sequence and subgiant stars. While the radius uncertainties are roughly constant over this range of stars, the model-dependent uncertainties are a complex function of luminosity, temperature, and metallicity. We provide open-source software for approximating these uncertainties for individual targets and discuss strategies for reducing these uncertainties in the future. 

Abstract The James Webb Space Telescope will be able to probe the atmospheres and surface properties of hot, terrestrial planets via emission spectroscopy. We identify 18 potentially terrestrial planet candidates detected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) that would make ideal targets for these observations. These planet candidates cover a broad range of planet radii ( R p ∼ 0.6–2.0 R ⊕ ) and orbit stars of various magnitudes ( K s = 5.78–10.78, V = 8.4–15.69) and effective temperatures ( T eff ∼ 3000–6000 K). We use ground-based observations collected through the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) and two vetting tools— DAVE and TRICERATOPS —to assess the reliabilities of these candidates as planets. We validate 13 planets: TOI-206 b, TOI-500 b, TOI-544 b, TOI-833 b, TOI-1075 b, TOI-1411 b, TOI-1442 b, TOI-1693 b, TOI-1860 b, TOI-2260 b, TOI-2411 b, TOI-2427 b, and TOI-2445 b. Seven of these planets (TOI-206 b, TOI-500 b, TOI-1075 b, TOI-1442 b, TOI-2260 b, TOI-2411 b, and TOI-2445 b) are ultra-short-period planets. TOI-1860 is the youngest (133 ± 26 Myr) solar twin with a known planet to date. TOI-2260 is a young (321 ± 96 Myr) G dwarf that is among the most metal-rich ([Fe/H] = 0.22 ± 0.06 dex) stars to host an ultra-short-period planet. With an estimated equilibrium temperature of ∼2600 K, TOI-2260 b is also the fourth hottest known planet with R p < 2 R ⊕ . 

Abstract We report the discovery of TOI-2180 b, a 2.8 M J giant planet orbiting a slightly evolved G5 host star. This planet transited only once in Cycle 2 of the primary Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. Citizen scientists identified the 24 hr single-transit event shortly after the data were released, allowing a Doppler monitoring campaign with the Automated Planet Finder telescope at Lick Observatory to begin promptly. The radial velocity observations refined the orbital period of TOI-2180 b to be 260.8 ± 0.6 days, revealed an orbital eccentricity of 0.368 ± 0.007, and discovered long-term acceleration from a more distant massive companion. We conducted ground-based photometry from 14 sites spread around the globe in an attempt to detect another transit. Although we did not make a clear transit detection, the nondetections improved the precision of the orbital period. We predict that TESS will likely detect another transit of TOI-2180 b in Sector 48 of its extended mission. We use giant planet structure models to retrieve the bulk heavy-element content of TOI-2180 b. When considered alongside other giant planets with orbital periods over 100 days, we find tentative evidence that the correlation between planet mass and metal enrichment relative to stellar is dependent on orbital properties. Single-transit discoveries like TOI-2180 b highlight the exciting potential of the TESS mission to find planets with long orbital periods and low irradiation fluxes despite the selection biases associated with the transit method. 

During the survey phase of the Kepler mission, several thousand stars were observed in short cadence, allowing for the detection of solar-like oscillations in more than 500 main-sequence and subgiant stars. These detections showed the power of asteroseismology in determining fundamental stellar parameters. However, the Kepler Science Office discovered an issue in the calibration that affected half of the store of short-cadence data, leading to a new data release (DR25) with corrections on the light curves. In this work, we re-analyzed the one-month time series of the Kepler survey phase to search for solar-like oscillations that might have been missed when using the previous data release. We studied the seismic parameters of 99 stars, among which there are 46 targets with new reported solar-like oscillations, increasing, by around 8%, the known sample of solar-like stars with an asteroseismic analysis of the short-cadence data from this mission. The majority of these stars have mid- to high-resolution spectroscopy publicly available with the LAMOST and APOGEE surveys, respectively, as well as precise Gaia parallaxes. We computed the masses and radii using seismic scaling relations and we find that this new sample features massive stars (above 1.2  M ⊙ and up to 2  M ⊙ ) and subgiants. We determined the granulation parameters and amplitude of the modes, which agree with the scaling relations derived for dwarfs and subgiants. The stars studied here are slightly fainter than the previously known sample of main-sequence and subgiants with asteroseismic detections. We also studied the surface rotation and magnetic activity levels of those stars. Our sample of 99 stars has similar levels of activity compared to the previously known sample and is in the same range as the Sun between the minimum and maximum of its activity cycle. We find that for seven stars, a possible blend could be the reason for the non-detection with the early data release. Finally, we compared the radii obtained from the scaling relations with the Gaia ones and we find that the Gaia radii are overestimated by 4.4%, on average, compared to the seismic radii, with a scatter of 12.3% and a decreasing trend according to the evolutionary stage. In addition, for homogeneity purposes, we re-analyzed the DR25 of the main-sequence and subgiant stars with solar-like oscillations that were previously detected and, as a result, we provide the global seismic parameters for a total of 525 stars. 

Abstract Asteroseismology of bright stars has become increasingly important as a method to determine the fundamental properties (in particular ages) of stars. The Kepler Space Telescope initiated a revolution by detecting oscillations in more than 500 main-sequence and subgiant stars. However, most Kepler stars are faint and therefore have limited constraints from independent methods such as long-baseline interferometry. Here we present the discovery of solar-like oscillations in α Men A, a naked-eye ( V = 5.1) G7 dwarf in TESS’s southern continuous viewing zone. Using a combination of astrometry, spectroscopy, and asteroseismology, we precisely characterize the solar analog α Men A ( T eff = 5569 ± 62 K, R ⋆ = 0.960 ± 0.016 R ⊙ , M ⋆ = 0.964 ± 0.045 M ⊙ ). To characterize the fully convective M dwarf companion, we derive empirical relations to estimate mass, radius, and temperature given the absolute Gaia magnitude and metallicity, yielding M ⋆ = 0.169 ± 0.006 M ⊙ , R ⋆ = 0.19 ± 0.01 R ⊙ , and T eff = 3054 ± 44 K. Our asteroseismic age of 6.2 ± 1.4 (stat) ± 0.6 (sys) Gyr for the primary places α Men B within a small population of M dwarfs with precisely measured ages. We combined multiple ground-based spectroscopy surveys to reveal an activity cycle of P = 13.1 ± 1.1 yr for α Men A, a period similar to that observed in the Sun. We used different gyrochronology models with the asteroseismic age to estimate a rotation period of ∼30 days for the primary. Alpha Men A is now the closest ( d = 10 pc) solar analog with a precise asteroseismic age from space-based photometry, making it a prime target for next-generation direct-imaging missions searching for true Earth analogs. 

Abstract We report the discovery of HIP-97166b (TOI-1255b), a transiting sub-Neptune on a 10.3 day orbit around a K0 dwarf 68 pc from Earth. This planet was identified in a systematic search of TESS Objects of Interest for planets with eccentric orbits, based on a mismatch between the observed transit duration and the expected duration for a circular orbit. We confirmed the planetary nature of HIP-97166b with ground-based radial-velocity measurements and measured a mass of M b = 20 ± 2 M ⊕ along with a radius of R b = 2.7 ± 0.1 R ⊕ from photometry. We detected an additional nontransiting planetary companion with M c sin i = 10 ± 2 M ⊕ on a 16.8 day orbit. While the short transit duration of the inner planet initially suggested a high eccentricity, a joint RV-photometry analysis revealed a high impact parameter b = 0.84 ± 0.03 and a moderate eccentricity. Modeling the dynamics with the condition that the system remain stable over >10 5 orbits yielded eccentricity constraints e b = 0.16 ± 0.03 and e c < 0.25. The eccentricity we find for planet b is above average for the small population of sub-Neptunes with well-measured eccentricities. We explored the plausible formation pathways of this system, proposing an early instability and merger event to explain the high density of the inner planet at 5.3 ± 0.9 g cc −1 as well as its moderate eccentricity and proximity to a 5:3 mean-motion resonance.