A Second Planet Transiting LTT 1445A and a Determination of the Masses of Both Worlds

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  • Jennifer G. Winters
  • Ryan Cloutier
  • Amber A. Medina
  • Jonathan M. Irwin
  • David Charbonneau
  • Nicola Astudillo-Defru
  • Xavier Bonfils
  • Andrew W. Howard
  • Howard Isaacson
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  • Andreas Seifahrt
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  • Ivan A. Terentev
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  • Avi Shporer
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  • Hans Martin Schwengeler
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  • Nicholas Scarsdale
  • Ryan A. Rubenzahl
  • Arpita Roy
  • Lee J. Rosenthal
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  • Erik A. Petigura
  • Francesco Pepe
  • Mark Omohundro
  • Joseph M. Akana Murphy
  • Felipe Murgas
  • Teo Mocnik
  • Benjamin T. Montet
  • Ronald Mennickent
  • Bob Massey
  • Jack Lubin
  • Christophe Lovis
  • Pablo Lewin
  • David Kasper
  • Stephen R. Kane
  • Jon M. Jenkins
  • Daniel Huber
  • Keith Horne
  • Michelle L. Hill
  • Paula Gorrini
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  • Courtney Dressing
  • Rodrigo F. Diaz
  • Xavier Delfosse
  • Paul A. Dalba
  • Fei Dai
  • C. C. Cortes
  • Ian J. M. Crossfield
  • Jeffrey D. Crane
  • Dennis M. Conti
  • Kevin Collins
  • Ashley Chontos
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  • Corey Beard
  • Natalie M. Batalha
  • Jose-Manuel Almenara

LTT 1445 is a hierarchical triple M-dwarf star system located at a distance of 6.86 pc. The primary star LTT 1445A (0.257 M-circle dot) is known to host the transiting planet LTT 1445Ab with an orbital period of 5.36 days, making it the second-closest known transiting exoplanet system, and the closest one for which the host is an M dwarf. Using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite data, we present the discovery of a second planet in the LTT 1445 system, with an orbital period of 3.12 days. We combine radial-velocity measurements obtained from the five spectrographs, Echelle Spectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations, High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer, MAROON-X, and Planet Finder Spectrograph to establish that the new world also orbits LTT 1445A. We determine the mass and radius of LTT 1445Ab to be 2.87 +/- 0.25 M-circle plus and 1.304(-0.060)(+0.067) R-circle plus, consistent with an Earth-like composition. For the newly discovered LTT 1445Ac, we measure a mass of 1.54(-0.19)(+0.20) M-circle plus and a minimum radius of 1.15 R-circle plus, but we cannot determine the radius directly as the signal-to-noise ratio of our light curve permits both grazing and nongrazing configurations. Using MEarth photometry and ground-based spectroscopy, we establish that star C (0.161 M-circle dot) is likely the source of the 1.4 day rotation period, and star B (0.215 MY circle dot) has a likely rotation period of 6.7 days. We estimate a probable rotation period of 85 days for LTT 1445A. Thus, this triple M-dwarf system appears to be in a special evolutionary stage where the most massive M dwarf has spun down, the intermediate mass M dwarf is in the process of spinning down, while the least massive stellar component has not yet begun to spin down.

Original languageEnglish
Article number168
JournalAstronomical Journal
Volume163
Issue number4
Number of pages18
ISSN0004-6256
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2022

    Research areas

  • EARTH-SIZED PLANET, SUPER-EARTH, STELLAR ACTIVITY, TERRESTRIAL PLANET, RADIAL-VELOCITIES, ERROR-CORRECTION, M DWARFS, NEARBY, SYSTEM, HARPS

ID: 302382840