Eclipse Depth Research Articles

The Rise and Fall of the Eclipsing Binary HS Hydrae

Abstract HS Hydrae is a short period eclipsing binary (P orb = 1.57 day) that belongs to a rare group of systems observed to have rapidly changing inclinations. This evolution is due to a third star on an intermediate orbit, and results in significant differences in eclipse depths and timings year to year. Zasche & Paschke revealed that HS Hydrae’s eclipses were rapidly fading from view, predicting they would cease around 2022. Using 25 days of photometric data from Sector 009 of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we find that the primary eclipses for HS Hydrae were only 0.00173 ± 0.00007 mag in depth in March 2019. This data from TESS likely represents the last eclipses detected from HS Hydrae. We also searched the Digitization of the Harvard Astronomical Plate Collection archive for historic data from the system. With a total baseline of over 125 yr, this unique combination of data sets—from photographic plates to precision space-based photometry—allows us to trace the emergence and decay of eclipses from HS Hydrae, and further constrain its evolution. Recent TESS observations from Sector 035 confirm that eclipses have ceased for HS Hya, and we estimate they will begin again in 2195.

Model for the long and orbital brightness variability of the β Lyrae type binary OGLE-BLG-ECL-157529

Context. Some close binaries of the β Lyrae type show photometric cycles longer than the orbital one, which are possibly related to changes in their accretion disks. Aims. We aim to understand the short- and long-scale morphologic changes observed in the light curve of the eclipsing system OGLE-BLG-ECL-157529. In particular, we want to shed light on the contribution of the disk variability to these changes, especially those related to the long cycle, occurring on timescales of hundreds of days. Methods. We studied I-band Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) photometric times series spanning 18.5 years, constructing disk models by analyzing the orbital light curve at 52 different consecutive epochs. An optimized simplex algorithm was used to solve the inverse problem by adjusting the light curve with the best stellar-orbital-disk parameters for the system. We applied an analysis of principal components to the parameters to evaluate their dependence and variability. We constructed a description of the mass transfer rate in terms of disk parameters. Results. We find that the overall light variability can be understood in terms of a variable mass transfer rate and variable accretion disk. The system brightness at orbital phase 0.25 follows the long cycle and is correlated with the mass transfer rate and the disk thickness. The long-cycle brightness variations can be understood in terms of differential occultation of the hotter star by a disk of variable thickness. Our model fits the overall light curve during 18.5 years well, including epochs of reversal of main and secondary eclipse depths. The disk radius cyclically change around the tidal radius, decoupled from changes in the mass transfer rate or system brightness, suggesting that viscous delay might explain the non-immediate response. Although the disk is large and fills a large fraction of the hot star Roche lobe, Lindblad resonance regions are far beyond the disk, excluding viscous dissipation as a major source of photometric variability.

CHEOPS precision phase curve of the Super-Earth 55 Cancri e

Context. 55 Cnc e is a transiting super-Earth (radius 1.88 R⊕ and mass 8 M⊕) orbiting a G8V host star on a 17-h orbit. Spitzer observations of the planet’s phase curve at 4.5 μm revealed a time-varying occultation depth, and MOST optical observations are consistent with a time-varying phase curve amplitude and phase offset of maximum light. Both broadband and high-resolution spectroscopic analyses are consistent with either a high mean molecular weight atmosphere or no atmosphere for planet e. A long-term photometric monitoring campaign on an independent optical telescope is needed to probe the variability in this system. Aims. We seek to measure the phase variations of 55 Cnc e with a broadband optical filter with the 30 cm effective aperture space telescope CHEOPS and explore how the precision photometry narrows down the range of possible scenarios. Methods. We observed 55 Cnc for 1.6 orbital phases in March of 2020. We designed a phase curve detrending toolkit for CHEOPS photometry which allowed us to study the underlying flux variations in the 55 Cnc system. Results. We detected a phase variation with a full-amplitude of 72 ± 7 ppm, but did not detect a significant secondary eclipse of the planet. The shape of the phase variation resembles that of a piecewise-Lambertian; however, the non-detection of the planetary secondary eclipse, and the large amplitude of the variations exclude reflection from the planetary surface as a possible origin of the observed phase variations. They are also likely incompatible with magnetospheric interactions between the star and planet, but may imply that circumplanetary or circumstellar material modulate the flux of the system. Conclusions. This year, further precision photometry of 55 Cnc from CHEOPS will measure variations in the phase curve amplitude and shape over time.

Closed-form ab initio solutions of geometric albedos and reflected light phase curves of exoplanets

Studying the albedos of the planets and moons of the Solar System dates back at least a century. Of particular interest is the relationship between the albedo measured at superior conjunction, known as the ``geometric albedo", and the albedo considered over all orbital phase angles, known as the ``spherical albedo". Determining the relationship between the geometric and spherical albedos usually involves complex numerical calculations and closed-form solutions are restricted to simple reflection laws. Here we report the discovery of closed-form solutions for the geometric albedo and integral phase function, which apply to any law of reflection that only depends on the scattering angle. The shape of a reflected light phase curve, quantified by the integral phase function, and the secondary eclipse depth, quantified by the geometric albedo, may now be self-consistently inverted to retrieve globally averaged physical parameters. Fully Bayesian phase curve inversions for reflectance maps and simultaneous light curve detrending may now be performed due to the efficiency of computation. Demonstrating these innovations for the hot Jupiter Kepler-7b, we infer a geometric albedo of $0.25^{+0.01}_{-0.02}$, a phase integral of $1.77 \pm0.07$, a spherical albedo of $0.44^{+0.02}_{-0.03}$ and a scattering asymmetry factor of $0.07^{+0.12}_{-0.11}$.

An all-sky sample of intermediate- to high-mass OBA-type eclipsing binaries observed by TESS

Context.Intermediate- to high-mass stars are the least numerous types of stars, and they are less well understood than their more numerous low-mass counterparts in terms of their internal physical processes. Modelling the photometric variability of a large sample of main-sequence intermediate- to high-mass stars in eclipsing binary systems will help to improve the models for such stars.Aims.Our goal is to compose a homogeneously compiled sample of main-sequence intermediate- to high-mass OBA-type dwarfs in eclipsing binary systems from TESS photometry. We search for binaries with and without pulsations and determine their approximate ephemerides.Methods.Our selection starts from a catalogue of dwarfs with colours corresponding to those of OBA-type dwarfs in the TESS Input Catalog. We develop a new automated method aimed at detecting eclipsing binaries in the presence of a strong pulsational and/or rotational signal relative to the eclipse depths and apply it to publicly available 30-min cadence TESS light curves.Results.Using targets with TESS magnitudes below 15 and cuts in the 2MASS magnitude bands ofJ − H < 0.045 andJ − K < 0.06 as the most stringent criteria, we arrive at a total of 189 981 intermediate- to high-mass candidates, 91 193 of which have light curves from at least one of two data reduction pipelines. The eclipsing binary detection and subsequent manual check for false positives resulted in 3155 unique OBA-type eclipsing binary candidates.Conclusions.Our sample of eclipsing binary stars in the intermediate- to high-mass regime allows for future binary (and asteroseismic) modelling with the aim to better understand the internal physical processes in this hot part of the main sequence.

Precision photometric monitoring from space of the multiple system θ Muscae including the WR binary WR48

ABSTRACT Θ Mus = HD 113904 is a massive multiple system containing the WC5/6 + O6/7V binary WR48 in a $19.1\, \mathrm{ d}$ circular orbit. Previous attempts to constrain the variable photometric properties of this binary subsystem have been thwarted by the dominating stochastically variable light from a 10-times brighter blue supergiant (BSG), located only 46 mas away. Even now, with extensive optical space-based photometry from one of the BRITE-Constellation satellites, we were unable to beat down the intrinsic stochastic variability from the BSG enough to provide a convincing detection of a low-level atmospheric eclipse of the WC + O system, as often seen in other short-period WR + O systems. We explore the variability of the dominating BSG and find that its behaviour is similar to that of other BSGs, with a forest of low-frequency Fourier peaks likely from stochastic gravity waves reaching the stellar surface. Then, by adopting an orbital inclination from another more reliable source, we obtain a clumping-independent, linear-density-dependent upper limit of the mass-loss rate for the WR component of $(6.5 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{-5}\, \mathrm{ M}_{\odot }\,\mathrm{ yr}^{ -1}$, which is consistent with values of other WC5/6 subtypes. This corresponds to an upper limit of 5.0 ± 0.2 mmag for the depth of the atmospheric eclipse in the WR48 subsystem when observed together with the BSG.

The Dark World: A Tale of WASP-43b in Reflected Light with HST WFC3/UVIS

Abstract Optical reflected light eclipse observations provide a direct probe of exoplanet scattering properties, such as from aerosols. We present here the photometric reflected light observations of WASP-43b using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3/UVIS instrument with the F350LP filter (346–822 nm) encompassing the entire optical band. This is the first reflected light photometric eclipse using UVIS in scanning mode; as such, we further detail our scanning extraction and analysis pipeline Arctor. Our HST WFC3/UVIS eclipse light curve for WASP-43b derived a 3σ upper limit of 67 ppm on the eclipse depth, which implies that WASP-43b has a very dark dayside atmosphere. With our atmospheric modeling campaign, we compared our reflected light constraints with predictions from global circulation and cloud models benchmarked with HST and Spitzer observations of WASP-43b. We infer that we do not detect clouds on the dayside within the pressure levels probed by HST WFC3/UVIS with the F350LP filter (P > 1 bar). This is consistent with the general circulation model predictions based on previous WASP-43b observations. Dayside emission spectroscopy results from WASP-43b with HST and Spitzer observations are likely to not be significantly affected by contributions from cloud particles.

A comprehensive reanalysis of Spitzer’s 4.5 μm phase curves, and the phase variations of the ultra-hot Jupiters MASCARA-1b and KELT-16b

ABSTRACT We have developed an open-source pipeline for the analysis of Spitzer/IRAC channel 1 and 2 time-series photometry, incorporating some of the most popular decorrelation methods. We applied this pipeline to new phase curve observations of ultra-hot Jupiters MASCARA-1b and KELT-16b, and we performed the first comprehensive reanalysis of 15 phase curves. We find that MASCARA-1b and KELT-16b have phase offsets of $6^{+11}_{-11}~^{\circ }$W and $38^{+16}_{-15}~^{\circ }$W, dayside temperatures of $2952^{+100}_{-97}$ and $3070^{+160}_{-150}$ K, and nightside temperatures of $1300^{+340}_{-340}$ and $1900^{+430}_{-440}$ K, respectively. We confirm a strong correlation between dayside and irradiation temperatures with a shallower dependence for nightside temperature. We also find evidence that the normalized phase curve amplitude (peak-to-trough divided by eclipse depth) is correlated with stellar effective temperature. In addition, while our different models often retrieve similar parameters, significant differences occasionally arise between them, as well as between our preferred model and the literature values. Nevertheless, our preferred models are consistent with published phase offsets to within −8 ± 21 degrees (−1.6 ± 3.2 sigma), and normalized phase curve amplitudes are on average reproduced to within −0.01 ± 0.24 (−0.1 ± 1.6 sigma). Finally, we find that BLISS performs best in most cases, but not all; we therefore recommend future analyses consider numerous detector models to ensure an optimal fit and to assess model dependencies.

TESS unveils the optical phase curve of KELT-1b

We present the detection and analysis of the phase curve of KELT-1b at optical wavelengths, analyzing data taken by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) during cycle 2 and sector 17. With a mass of ~27 MJup, KELT-1b is an example of a low-mass brown dwarf. Due to the high mass and close proximity of its companion, the host star exhibits a TESS light curve that shows clear ellipsoidal variations. We modeled the data with a six-component model: secondary eclipse, phase curve accounting for reflected light and thermal emission, Doppler beaming, ellipsoidal variations, stellar activity, and the primary transit. We determined the secondary eclipse depth in the TESS bandpass to be 304 ± 75 parts-per-million (ppm). In addition, we measured the amplitude of the phase curve to be 128 ± 27 ppm, with a corresponding eastward offset between the region of maximum brightness and the substellar point of 19.2 ± 9.6 degrees, with the latter showing good agreement with Spitzer measurements. We determined a day-side brightness temperature in the TESS bandpass of 3201 ± 147 K that is approximately 200 K higher than the values determined from the Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5 μm data. By combining TESS and Spitzer eclipse depths, we derived a day-side effective temperature of Teff = 3010 ± 78 K. Previously published eclipse depths in the near-infrared suggest a much higher brightness temperature and this discrepancy cannot be explained by spectral models combined with the current data. We attribute those large eclipse depths to unmodeled ellipsoidal variations, which would typically be manifested as a deeper secondary eclipse in observations with insufficient phase coverage. A one-dimensional self-consistent atmospheric model is able to explain the TESS and Spitzer day-side brightness temperatures with thermal emission alone and no reflected light. The difference between the TESS and Spitzer brightness temperatures can be explained via CO absorption due to a non-inverted temperature profile. The night side data fix an upper limit of ~2000 K on the internal temperature of KELT-1 b.

Phase curve and variability analysis of WASP-12b using TESS photometry

ABSTRACT We analyse Sector 20 TESS photometry of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-12b, and extract its phase curve to study the planet’s atmospheric properties. We successfully recover the phase curve with an amplitude of 549 ± 62 ppm, and a secondary eclipse depth of 609$^{+74}_{-73}$ ppm. The peak of the phase curve is shifted by 0.049 ± 0.015 in phase, implying that the brightest spot in the atmosphere is shifted from the substellar point towards the planet’s evening terminator. Assuming zero albedo, the eclipse depth infers a day-side brightness temperature of 3128$^{+64}_{-68}$ K. No significant detection of flux from the night-side is found at 60 ± 97 ppm, implying a night-side brightness temperature of <2529 K (1-σ). We do not detect any significant variability in the light from the planet over the ∼27 d of the TESS observations. Finally, we note that an ephemeris model taking orbital decay into account provides a significantly better fit than a constant-period model.

Multiwavelength Photometry Derived from Monochromatic Kepler Data

Abstract The Kepler mission has provided a wealth of data, revealing new insights in time-domain astronomy. However, Kepler’s single bandpass has limited studies to a single wavelength. In this work we build a data-driven, pixel-level model for the pixel response function (PRF) of Kepler targets, modeling the image data from the spacecraft. Our model is sufficiently flexible to capture known detector effects, such as nonlinearity, intrapixel sensitivity variations, and focus change. In theory, the shape of the Kepler PRF should also be weakly wavelength-dependent, due to optical chromatic aberration and a wavelength-dependent detector response functions. We are able to identify these predicted changes in shape of the PRF using the residuals between Kepler data and our model. In this work, we show that these PRF changes correspond to wavelength variability in Kepler targets using a small sample of eclipsing binaries. Using our model, we demonstrate that pixel-level light curves of eclipsing binaries show variable eclipse depths, ellipsoidal modulation, and limb darkening. These changes at the pixel level are consistent with multiwavelength photometry. Our work suggests that each pixel in the Kepler data of a single target has a different effective wavelength, ranging from ≈550 to 750 nm. In this proof of concept, we demonstrate our model, and discuss possible uses for the wavelength-dependent PRF of Kepler. These uses include characterizing variable systems, and vetting exoplanet discoveries at the pixel level. The chromatic PRF of Kepler is due to weak wavelength dependence in the optical systems and detector of the telescope, and similar chromatic PRFs are expected in other similar telescopes, notably the NASA TESS telescope.

The hot dayside and asymmetric transit of WASP-189 b seen by CHEOPS

The CHEOPS space mission dedicated to exoplanet follow-up was launched in December 2019, equipped with the capacity to perform photometric measurements at the 20 ppm level. As CHEOPS carries out its observations in a broad optical passband, it can provide insights into the reflected light from exoplanets and constrain the short-wavelength thermal emission for the hottest of planets by observing occultations and phase curves. Here, we report the first CHEOPS observation of an occultation, namely, that of the hot Jupiter WASP-189 b, a MP ≈ 2MJ planet orbiting an A-type star. We detected the occultation of WASP-189 b at high significance in individual measurements and derived an occultation depth of dF = 87.9 ± 4.3 ppm based on four occultations. We compared these measurements to model predictions and we find that they are consistent with an unreflective atmosphere heated to a temperature of 3435 ± 27 K, when assuming inefficient heat redistribution. Furthermore, we present two transits of WASP-189 b observed by CHEOPS. These transits have an asymmetric shape that we attribute to gravity darkening of the host star caused by its high rotation rate. We used these measurements to refine the planetary parameters, finding a ~25% deeper transit compared to the discovery paper and updating the radius of WASP-189 b to 1.619 ± 0.021RJ. We further measured the projected orbital obliquity to be λ = 86.4−4.4+2.9°, a value that is in good agreement with a previous measurement from spectroscopic observations, and derived a true obliquity of Ψ = 85.4 ± 4.3°. Finally, we provide reference values for the photometric precision attained by the CHEOPS satellite: for the V = 6.6 mag star, and using a 1-h binning, we obtain a residual RMS between 10 and 17 ppm on the individual light curves, and 5.7 ppm when combining the four visits.

The TESS Phase Curve of KELT-1b Suggests a High Dayside Albedo

Abstract We measured the optical phase curve of the transiting brown dwarf KELT-1b (TOI 1476) using data from the TESS spacecraft. We found that KELT-1b shows significant phase variation in the TESS bandpass, with a relatively large phase amplitude of ppm and a secondary eclipse depth of ppm. We also measured a marginal eastward offset in the dayside hot spot of 183 ± 74 relative to the substellar point. We detected a strong phase-curve signal attributed to ellipsoidal distortion of the host star with an amplitude of 399 ± 19 ppm. Our results are roughly consistent with the Spitzer phase curves of KELT-1b, but the TESS eclipse depth is deeper than expected. Our cloud-free 1D models of KELT-1b’s dayside emission are unable to fit the full combined eclipse spectrum. Instead, the large TESS eclipse depth suggests that KELT-1b may have a significant dayside geometric albedo of A g ∼ 0.5 in the TESS bandpass, which would agree with the tentative trend between equilibrium temperature and geometric albedo recently suggested by Wong et al. We posit that if KELT-1b has a high dayside albedo, it is likely due to silicate clouds that form on KELT-1b’s nightside and are subsequently transported onto the western side of KELT-1b’s dayside hemisphere before breaking up.

Integrating Light Curve and Atmospheric Modeling of Transiting Exoplanets

Abstract Spectral retrieval techniques are currently our best tool to interpret the observed exoplanet atmospheric data. Said techniques retrieve the optimal atmospheric components and parameters by identifying the best fit to an observed transmission/emission spectrum. Over the past decade, our understanding of remote worlds in our galaxy has flourished thanks to the use of increasingly sophisticated spectral retrieval techniques and the collective effort of the community working on exoplanet atmospheric models. A new generation of instruments in space and from the ground is expected to deliver higher quality data in the next decade; it is therefore paramount to upgrade current models and improve their reliability, their completeness, and the numerical speed with which they can be run. In this paper, we address the issue of reliability of the results provided by retrieval models in the presence of systematics of unknown origin. More specifically, we demonstrate that if we fit directly individual light curves at different wavelengths (L-retrieval), instead of fitting transit or eclipse depths, as it is currently done (S-retrieval), the said methodology is more sensitive against astrophysical and instrumental noise. This new approach is tested, in particular, when discrepant simulated observations from Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 3 and Spitzer/IRAC are combined. We find that while S-retrievals converge to an incorrect solution without any warning, L-retrievals are able to flag potential discrepancies between the data sets.

Systematic Phase Curve Study of Known Transiting Systems from Year One of the TESS Mission

Abstract We present a systematic phase curve analysis of known transiting systems observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) during year one of the primary mission. Using theoretical predictions for the amplitude of the planetary longitudinal atmospheric brightness modulation, stellar ellipsoidal distortion and Doppler boosting, as well as brightness considerations to select targets with likely detectable signals, we applied a uniform data processing and light-curve modeling framework to fit the full-orbit phase curves of 22 transiting systems with planet-mass or brown dwarf companions, including previously published systems. Statistically significant secondary eclipse depths and/or atmospheric brightness modulation amplitudes were measured for HIP 65A, WASP-18, WASP-19, WASP-72, WASP-100, WASP-111, WASP-121, and WASP-122/KELT-14. For WASP-100b, we found marginal evidence that the brightest region of the atmosphere is shifted eastward away from the substellar point. We detected significant ellipsoidal distortion signals in the light curves of HIP 65A, TOI-503, WASP-18, and WASP-30, with HIP 65A, TOI-503 and WASP-18 also exhibiting Doppler boosting. The measured amplitudes of these signals agree with the predictions of theoretical models. Combining the optical secondary eclipse depths with previously published Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5 μm measurements, we derived dayside brightness temperatures and visible-light geometric albedos for a subset of the analyzed systems. We also calculated updated transit ephemerides combining the transit timings from the TESS light curves with previous literature values.

Detection of the Occultation of 55 Cancri e with TESS

Abstract 55 Cancri e is an ultra-short period transiting Super-Earth observed by TESS in Sector 21. Using this photometry, we measure the occultation depth in the TESS bandpass, leveraging the precise transit light curve and comparing multiple detrending methods. We measure the occultation depth to be (15.0 ± 4.8) ppm—a staggeringly small change in brightness, yet one detected by TESS in just a single sector of data. This implies a brightness temperature of 2800 − 160 + 130 K, which is around 1.5σ greater than expected given the mean depth measured with Spitzer. This is not a formally significant difference, and may be accounted for by the known variability, or by an albedo of ∼0.5. In any case, future TESS observations of this system will provide an exciting opportunity to further study this diminutive world’s atmosphere.

Random Forests Applied to High-precision Photometry Analysis with Spitzer IRAC

Abstract We present a new method employing machine-learning techniques for measuring astrophysical features by correcting systematics in IRAC high-precision photometry using random forests. The main systematic in IRAC light-curve data is position changes due to unavoidable telescope motions coupled with an intrapixel response function. We aim to use the large amount of publicly available calibration data for the single pixel used for this type of work (the sweet-spot pixel) to make a fast, easy-to-use, accurate correction to science data. This correction on calibration data has the advantage of using an independent data set instead of the science data themselves, which has the disadvantage of including astrophysical variations. After focusing on feature engineering and hyperparameter optimization, we show that a boosted random forest model can reduce the data such that we measure the median of 10 archival eclipse observations of XO-3b to be 1459 ± 200 ppm. This is a comparable depth to the average of those in the literature done by seven different methods; however, the spread in measurements is 30%–100% larger than those literature values, depending on the reduction method. We also caution others attempting similar methods to check their results with the fiducial data set of XO-3b, as we were also able to find models providing initially great scores on their internal test data sets but whose results significantly underestimated the eclipse depth of that planet.

PLATON II: New Capabilities and a Comprehensive Retrieval on HD 189733b Transit and Eclipse Data

Abstract Recently, we introduced PLanetary Atmospheric Tool for Observer Noobs (PLATON), a Python package that calculates model transmission spectra for exoplanets and retrieves atmospheric characteristics based on observed spectra. We now expand its capabilities to include the ability to compute secondary eclipse depths. We have also added the option to calculate models using the correlated-k method for radiative transfer, which improves accuracy without sacrificing speed. Additionally, we update the opacities in PLATON—many of which were generated using old or proprietary line lists—using the most recent and complete public line lists. These opacities are made available at R = 1000 and R = 10,000 over the 0.3–30 μm range, and at R = 375,000 in select near-IR bands, making it possible to utilize PLATON for ground-based high-resolution cross-correlation studies. To demonstrate PLATON’s new capabilities, we perform a retrieval on published Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer transmission and emission spectra of the archetypal hot Jupiter HD 189733b. This is the first joint transit and secondary eclipse retrieval for this planet in the literature, as well as the most comprehensive set of both transit and eclipse data assembled for a retrieval to date. We find that these high signal-to-noise data are well matched by atmosphere models with a C/O ratio of and a metallicity of times solar where the terminator is dominated by extended nanometer-sized haze particles at optical wavelengths. These are among the smallest uncertainties reported to date for an exoplanet, demonstrating both the power and the limitations of HST and Spitzer exoplanet observations.

Exploring the Atmospheric Dynamics of the Extreme Ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b Using TESS Photometry

Abstract We carry out a phase-curve analysis of the KELT-9 system using photometric observations from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The measured secondary eclipse depth and peak-to-peak atmospheric brightness modulation are and 566 ± 16 ppm, respectively. The planet’s brightness variation reaches maximum 31 ± 5 minutes before the midpoint of the secondary eclipse, indicating a 5.°2 ± 0.°9 eastward shift in the dayside hot spot from the substellar point. We also detect stellar pulsations on KELT-9 with a period of 7.58695 ± 0.00091 hr. The dayside emission of KELT-9b in the TESS bandpass is consistent with a blackbody brightness temperature of 4600 ± 100 K. The corresponding nightside brightness temperature is 3040 ± 100 K, comparable to the dayside temperatures of the hottest known exoplanets. In addition, we detect a significant phase-curve signal at the first harmonic of the orbital frequency and a marginal signal at the second harmonic. While the amplitude of the first harmonic component is consistent with the predicted ellipsoidal distortion modulation assuming equilibrium tides, the phase of this photometric variation is shifted relative to the expectation. Placing KELT-9b in the context of other exoplanets with phase-curve observations, we find that the elevated nightside temperature and relatively low day–night temperature contrast agree with the predictions of atmospheric models that include H2 dissociation and recombination. The nightside temperature of KELT-9b implies an atmospheric composition containing about 50% molecular and 50% atomic hydrogen at 0.1 bar, a nightside emission spectrum that deviates significantly from a blackbody, and a 0.5–2.0 μm transmission spectrum that is featureless at low resolution.

The TESS light curve of the eccentric eclipsing binary 1SWASP J011351.29+314909.7 – no evidence for a very hot M-dwarf companion

ABSTRACT A 2014 study of the eclipsing binary star 1SWASPJ011351.29+314909.7 (J0113+31) reported an unexpectedly high effective temperature for the M-dwarf companion to the 0.95-M⊙ primary star. The effective temperature inferred from the secondary eclipse depth was ∼600 K higher than the value predicted from stellar models. Such an anomalous result questions our understanding of low-mass stars and might indicate a significant uncertainty when inferring properties of exoplanets orbiting them. We seek to measure the effective temperature of the M-dwarf companion using the light curve of J0113+31 recently observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). We use the pycheops modelling software to fit a combined transit and eclipse model to the TESS light curve. To calculate the secondary effective temperature, we compare the best-fitting eclipse depth to the predicted eclipse depths from theoretical stellar models. We determined the effective temperature of the M dwarf to be Teff,2 = 3208 ± 43 K, assuming log g2 = 5, [Fe/H] = −0.4, and no alpha-element enhancement. Varying these assumptions changes Teff,2 by less than 100 K. These results do not support a large anomaly between observed and theoretical low-mass star temperatures.