Astronomers have discovered a planetary system that exhibits the strongest observed gravitational interaction between two giant planets to date. This gravitational dance is so strong that it causes apparent changes in the orbital period of the planets on the order of days! The TOI-4504 planetary system, which also hosts a small planet between the size of Earth and Neptune, represents a very important discovery that will allow astronomers to better understand the formation and evolution of planetary systems.
Abstract
We present a joint analysis of transit timing variations (TTVs) and Doppler data for the transiting exoplanet system TOI-4504. TOI-4504 c is a warm Jupiter-mass planet that exhibits the largest known TTVs, with a peak-to-node amplitude of ∼2 days, the largest value ever observed, and a superperiod of ~930 days. TOI-4504 b and c were identified in public Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) data, while the TTVs observed in TOI-4504 c, together with radial velocity (RV) data collected with FEROS, allowed us to uncover a third, nontransiting planet in this system, TOI-4504 d. We were able to detect transits of TOI-4504 b in the TESS data with a period of 2.4261 ± 0.0001 days and derive a radius of 2.69 ± 0.19 R⊕. The RV scatter of TOI-4504 was too large to constrain the mass of TOI-4504 b, but the RV signals of TOI-4504 c and d were sufficiently large to measure their masses. The TTV+RV dynamical model we apply confirms TOI-4504 c as a warm Jupiter planet with an osculating period of 82.54 ± 0.02 days, a mass of 3.77 ± 0.18 MJ, and a radius of 0.99 ± 0.05 RJ, while the nontransiting planet TOI-4504 d has an orbital period of 40.56 ± 0.04 days and a mass of 1.42MJ. We present the discovery of a system with three exoplanets: a hot sub-Neptune and two warm Jupiter planets. The gas giant pair is stable and likely locked in a first-order 2:1 mean-motion resonance (MMR). The TOI-4504 system is an important addition to MMR pairs, whose increasing occurrence supports a smooth migration into a resonant configuration during the protoplanetary disk phase.
More in press release (in Czech)
Image description
An artistic rendering of the TOI-4504 system generated by DeepAI.
Contacts and links
- Press Release of ASU (webu pageú): Zběsilý tanec obřích exoplanet [cs]
- Scientific paper: Exceptionally Large Transit Timing Variations Induced by Two Resonant Warm Gas Giants in a Three-planet System, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad9a53
- Contact: Dr. Marek Skarka, head: Astronomical Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences, Stellar department, Exoplanets working group; Email: skarka@asu.cas.cz
- Contact: Mgr, Michaela Vítková, leading author: Astronomical Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences, Stellar department, Exoplanets working group; Masaryk University Brno; Email: vitkova@asu.cas.cz
- Media Contact: Pavel Suchan; Astronomical Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences; Email: suchan@astro.cz; Tel: 737 322 815
- Press Release to dowload (DOC)
