Spitzer Parallax of OGLE-2015-BLG-0966: A Cold Neptune in the Galactic Disk

TL;DR

This paper reports the first successful real-time implementation of protocols to maximize planet detection sensitivity, leading to the discovery of a Cold Neptune orbiting an M dwarf in the Galactic disk using combined ground and Spitzer observations.

Contribution

It demonstrates the practical application of complex real-time protocols for planet detection in a combined ground and space-based survey.

Findings

Detected a Cold Neptune with 21±2 Earth masses.

Located the planet in the Galactic disk, not the bulge.

First successful real-time protocol implementation in such surveys.

Abstract

We report the detection of a Cold Neptune m_planet=21+/-2MEarth orbiting a 0.38MSol M dwarf lying 2.5-3.3 kpc toward the Galactic center as part of a campaign combining ground-based and Spitzer observations to measure the Galactic distribution of planets. This is the first time that the complex real-time protocols described by Yee et al. (2015), which aim to maximize planet sensitivity while maintaining sample integrity, have been carried out in practice. Multiple survey and follow-up teams successfully combined their efforts within the framework of these protocols to detect this planet. This is the second planet in the Spitzer Galactic distribution sample. Both are in the near-to-mid disk and clearly not in the Galactic bulge.