WASP-52b, WASP-58b, WASP-59b, and WASP-60b: four new transiting close-in giant planets

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of four new transiting hot Jupiters with diverse properties, including inflated and dense planets, and provides initial characterization such as orbital parameters and stellar obliquity, enriching the sample for exoplanet studies.

Contribution

The paper presents four newly discovered transiting hot Jupiters with detailed characterization, including Rossiter-McLaughlin measurements, expanding the known diversity of close-in giant planets.

Findings

WASP-52b and 58b are low-density, inflated planets.

WASP-59b likely has a large, dense core.

WASP-52b has a prograde orbit with slight misalignment.

Abstract

We present the discovery of four new transiting hot jupiters, detected mainly from SuperWASP-North and SOPHIE observations. These new planets, WASP-52b, WASP-58b, WASP-59b, and WASP-60b, have orbital periods ranging from 1.7 to 7.9 days, masses between 0.46 and 0.94 M_Jup, and radii between 0.73 and 1.49 R_Jup. Their G1 to K5 dwarf host stars have V magnitudes in the range 11.7-13.0. The depths of the transits are between 0.6 and 2.7%, depending on the target. With their large radii, WASP-52b and 58b are new cases of low-density, inflated planets, whereas WASP-59b is likely to have a large, dense core. WASP-60 shows shallow transits. In the case of WASP-52 we also detected the Rossiter-McLaughlin anomaly via time-resolved spectroscopy of a transit. We measured the sky-projected obliquity lambda = 24 (+17/-9) degrees, indicating that WASP-52b orbits in the same direction as its host star is rotating and that this prograde orbit is slightly misaligned with the stellar equator. These four new planetary systems increase our statistics on hot jupiters, and provide new targets for follow-up studies.