A young progenitor for the most common planetary systems in the Galaxy

Abstract The Galaxy’s most common known planetary systems have several Earth-to-Neptune-size planets in compact orbits 1 . At small orbital separations, larger planets are less common than their smaller counterparts by an order of magnitude. The young star V1298 Tau hosts one such compact planetary system, albeit with four planets that are uncommonly large (5 to 10 Earth radii) 2,3 . The planets form a chain of near-resonances that result in transit-timing variations of several hours. Here we present a multi-year campaign to characterize this system with transit-timing variations, a method insensitive to the intense magnetic activity of the star. Through targeted observations, we first resolved the previously…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: NAS 5-26555
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  Awards: NAS 5-26555, 5-26555, JP24H00017
• WM
  W. M. Keck Foundation
• PU
  Purdue University
• CI
  California Institute of Technology
• UO
  University of Wisconsin-Madison
• ST
  Space Telescope Science Institute

  Awards: NAS 5-26555, 5-26555, 26555
• JP
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• SM
  Science Mission Directorate

  Award: NAS 5-26555
• NH
  NASA Headquarters
• JS
  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

  Awards: JP24K17082, JP24H00248, JPJSBP120249910
• PR
  Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology