Abstract
We report the discovery of WASP-3b, the third transiting exoplanet to be discovered by the WASP and SOPHIE collaboration. WASP-3b transits its host star USNO-B1.0 1256−0285133 every 1.846 834 ± 0.000 002 d. Our high-precision radial velocity measurements present a variation with amplitude characteristic of a planetary-mass companion and in phase with the light curve. Adaptive optics imaging shows no evidence for nearby stellar companions, and line-bisector analysis excludes faint, unresolved binarity and stellar activity as the cause of the radial velocity variations. We make a preliminary spectroscopic analysis of the host star and find it to have T eff = 6400 ± 100 K and log g = 4.25 ± 0.05 which suggests it is most likely an unevolved main-sequence star of spectral type F7-8V. Our simultaneous modelling of the transit photometry and reflex motion of the host leads us to derive a mass of 1.76 +0.08 −0.14 MJ and radius 1.31 +0.07 −0.14 RJ for WASP-3b. The proximity and relative temperature of the host star suggests that WASP-3b is one of the hottest exoplanets known, and thus has the potential to place stringent constraints on exoplanet atmospheric models.
Highlights
Since the discovery by Henry et al (2000) and Charbonneau et al (2000) of the first transiting exoplanet, HD209458b, a further 22 transiting systems have been announced
We report the discovery of Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP)-3b, the third transiting exoplanet to be discovered by the WASP and SOPHIE collaboration
The proximity and relative temperature of the host star suggests that WASP-3b is one of the hottest exoplanets known, and has the potential to place stringent constraints on exoplanet atmospheric models
Summary
Since the discovery by Henry et al (2000) and Charbonneau et al (2000) of the first transiting exoplanet, HD209458b, a further 22 transiting systems have been announced (see http://obswww.unige.ch/ ̃pont/TRANSITS.htm). Following the discovery of the transits of HD209458b (Henry et al 2000; Charbonneau et al 2000) it was widely believed that the multiplex advantage of wide-field photometric imaging could lead to this technique becoming the dominant method for detecting exoplanets. While it is true to say that, at least initially, photometric surveys have been slow to realise their expected detection rates (Horne 2003), recently this situation has begun to change with 14 new systems published in 2006-07 alone. This improved detection rate is largely due to the development of a better understanding of noise characteristics, especially the correlated noise inherent in such photometric surveys In this paper the WASP and SOPHIE collaboration announce the discovery of a new, relatively high mass, strongly-irradiated gas-giant exoplanet, WASP-3b
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