A Third Exoplanetary System with Misaligned Orbital and Stellar Spin Axes11Based on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; the Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and the UH 2.2 m telescope.

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe present evidence that the WASP-14 exoplanetary system has misaligned orbital and stellar-rotational axes, with an angle λ = -33.1° ± 7.4° between their sky projections. The evidence is based on spectroscopic observations of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect as well as new photometric observations. WASP-14 is now the third system known to have a significant spin-orbit misalignment, and all three systems have “super-Jupiter” planets (MP > 3 MJup) and eccentric orbits. This finding suggests that the migration and subsequent orbital evolution of massive, eccentric exoplanets is somehow different from that of less massive close-in Jupiters, the majority of which have well-aligned orbits.