A dense mini-Neptune orbiting the bright young star HD 18599

Jose I. Vines, James S. Jenkins, Zaira Berdiñas, Maritza G. Soto, Matías R. Díaz, Douglas R. Alves, Mikko Tuomi, Robert A. Wittenmyer, Jerome Pitogo de Leon, Pablo Peña, Jack J. Lissauer, Sarah Ballard, Timothy Bedding, Brendan P. Bowler, Jonathan Horner, Hugh R. A. Jones, John Kielkopf, Peter Plavchan, Avi Shporer, C. G. TinneyHui Zhang Duncan J. Wright, Brett Addison, Matthew W. Mengel, Jack Okumura, Anya Samadi-Ghadim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Very little is known about the young planet population because the detection of small planets orbiting young stars is obscured by the effects of stellar activity and fast rotation which mask planets within radial velocity and transit data sets. The few planets that have been discovered in young clusters generally orbit stars too faint for any detailed follow-up analysis. Here we present the characterization of a new mini-Neptune planet orbiting the bright (V=9) and nearby K2 dwarf star, HD 18599. The planet candidate was originally detected in TESS light curves from Sectors 2, 3, 29, and 30, with an orbital period of 4.138~days. We then used HARPS and FEROS radial velocities, to find the companion mass to be 25.5$\pm$4.6~M$_\oplus$. When we combine this with the measured radius from TESS, of 2.70$\pm$0.05~R$_\oplus$, we find a high planetary density of 7.1$\pm$1.4~g cm$^{-3}$. The planet exists on the edge of the Neptune Desert and is the first young planet (300 Myr) of its type to inhabit this region. Structure models argue for a bulk composition to consist of 23% H$_2$O and 77% Rock and Iron. Future follow-up with large ground- and space-based telescopes can enable us to begin to understand in detail the characteristics of young Neptunes in the galaxy.
Original language English stac2845 2627–2639 13 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 518 2 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2845 Published - 13 Oct 2022

• astro-ph.EP

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