Know the Star, Know the Planet. I. Adaptive Optics of Exoplanet Host Stars

TL;DR

This study used adaptive optics imaging to identify and analyze stellar companions around exoplanet host stars, revealing new binary candidates and refining orbital data to better understand their dynamics.

Contribution

It presents new high-resolution observations of exoplanet host stars, discovering seven new candidate binaries and improving orbital parameters for known systems.

Findings

Identified 7 new candidate binary star systems.

Improved orbital data for HD 19994 and τ Boo.

Provided statistical insights into the multiplicity of exoplanet host stars.

Abstract

The results of an adaptive optics survey of exoplanet host stars for stellar companions is presented. We used the AEOS Telescope and its adaptive optics system to collect deep images of the stars in $I$-band. Sixty-two exoplanet host stars were observed and fifteen multiple star systems were resolved. Of these eight are known multiples, while seven are new candidate binaries. For all binaries, we measured the relative astrometry of the pair and the differential magnitude in $I$-band. We improved the orbits of HD 19994 and $\tau$ Boo. These observations will provide improved statistics on the duplicity of exoplanet hosts stars and provide an increased understanding of the dynamics of known binary star exoplanet hosts.