Refined parameters and spectroscopic transit of the super-massive planet HD147506b

TL;DR

This study refines the orbital parameters of the super-massive exoplanet HD147506b, detects the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, and finds its orbit is aligned with its star's spin, revealing unusual density characteristics.

Contribution

It provides the first high-precision spectroscopic measurements of HD147506b, including refined orbital and physical parameters and the detection of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect.

Findings

Orbital alignment with stellar spin (lambda ≈ 0°)

Refined planetary radius and mass measurements

Density indicates an intermediate object between planets and stars

Abstract

In this paper, we report a refined determination of the orbital parameters and the detection of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect of the recently discovered transiting exoplanet HD147506b (HAT-P-2b). The large orbital eccentricity at the short orbital period of this exoplanet is unexpected and is distinguishing from other known transiting exoplanets. We performed high-precision radial velocity spectroscopic observations of HD147506 (HAT-P-2) with the new spectrograph SOPHIE, mounted on the 1.93 m telescope at the Haute-Provence observatory (OHP). We obtained 63 new measurements, including 35 on May 14 and 20 on June 11, when the planet was transiting its parent star. The radial velocity (RV) anomaly observed illustrates that HAT-P-2b orbital motion is set in the same direction as its parent star spin. The sky-projected angle between the normal of the orbital plane and the stellar spin axis, \lambda = 0.2 +12.2 -12.5 deg, is consistent with zero. The planetary and stellar radii were re-determined, yielding R_p = 0.951 +0.039 -0.053 R_Jup, R_s = 1.416 +0.040 -0.062 R_Sun. The mass M_p = 8.62 +0.39 -0.55 M_Jup and radius of HAT-P-2b indicate a density of 12.5 +2.6 -3.6 g cm^{-3}, suggesting an object in between the known close-in planets with typical density of the order of 1 g cm^{-3}, and the very low-mass stars, with density greater than 50 g cm^{-3}.