Abstract
We report the discovery of two transiting exoplanets, CoRoT-25b and CoRoT-26b, both of low density, one of which is in the Saturn mass-regime. For each star, ground-based complementary observations through optical photometry and radial velocity measurements secured the planetary nature of the transiting body and allowed us to fully characterize them. For CoRoT-25b we found a planetary mass of 0.27 ± 0.04 MJup, a radius of 1.08 -0.10+0.3 RJup and hence a mean density of 0.15-0.06+0.15 g cm-3. The planet orbits an F9 main-sequence star in a 4.86-day period, that has a V magnitude of 15.0, solar metallicity, and an age of 4.5-2.0+1.8-Gyr. CoRoT-26b orbits a slightly evolved G5 star of 9.06 ± 1.5-Gyr age in a 4.20-day period that hassolar metallicity and a V magnitude of 15.8. With a mass of 0.52 ± 0.05 MJup, a radius of 1.26-0.07+0.13 RJup, and a mean density of 0.28-0.07+0.09 g cm-3, it belongs to the low-mass hot-Jupiter population. Planetary evolution models allowed us to estimate a core mass of a few tens of Earth mass for the two planets with heavy-element mass fractions of 0.52 -0.15+0.08 and 0.26-0.08+0.05, respectively, assuming that a small fraction of the incoming flux is dissipated at the center of the planet. In addition, these models indicate that CoRoT-26b is anomalously large compared with what standard models could account for, indicating that dissipation from stellar heating could cause this size.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | A118 |
| Journal | Astronomy and Astrophysics |
| Volume | 555 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2013 |
Funding
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| ???publication-publication-funding-organisation-not-added??? | ST/G002266/1 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | |
| W. M. Keck Foundation | |
| Ames Research Center | |
| Oak Ridge Associated Universities | |
| NASA Exoplanet Science Institute | |
| Science and Technology Facilities Council | ST/G002266/2 |
| Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung | 140442 |
| Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad |
Keywords
- Planetary systems
- Techniques: photometric
- Techniques: radial velocities
- Techniques: spectroscopic