# KELT-18b: Puffy Planet, Hot Host, Probably Perturbed

## TL;DR

KELT-18b is a highly inflated hot Jupiter orbiting a bright, hot star, with potential spin-orbit misalignment and a stellar companion, making it ideal for atmospheric studies and understanding planetary system dynamics.

## Contribution

This paper reports the discovery and detailed characterization of KELT-18b, a unique hot Jupiter around a bright, hot star, including evidence of a stellar companion and potential spin-orbit misalignment.

## Key findings

- KELT-18b has a low density of 0.377 g/cm^3, making it one of the most inflated planets around a hot star.
- The host star is hot, massive, and bright, suitable for atmospheric characterization.
- Evidence suggests a stellar companion and possible spin-orbit misalignment in the system.

## Abstract

We report the discovery of KELT-18b, a transiting hot Jupiter in a 2.87d orbit around the bright (V=10.1), hot, F4V star BD+60 1538 (TYC 3865-1173-1). We present follow-up photometry, spectroscopy, and adaptive optics imaging that allow a detailed characterization of the system. Our preferred model fits yield a host stellar temperature of 6670+/-120 K and a mass of 1.524+/-0.069 Msun, situating it as one of only a handful of known transiting planets with hosts that are as hot, massive, and bright. The planet has a mass of 1.18+/-0.11 Mjup, a radius of 1.57+/-0.04 Rjup, and a density of 0.377+/-0.040 g/cm^3, making it one of the most inflated planets known around a hot star. We argue that KELT-18b's high temperature and low surface gravity, which yield an estimated ~600 km atmospheric scale height, combined with its hot, bright host make it an excellent candidate for observations aimed at atmospheric characterization. We also present evidence for a bound stellar companion at a projected separation of ~1100 AU, and speculate that it may have contributed to the strong misalignment we suspect between KELT-18's spin axis and its planet's orbital axis. The inferior conjunction time is 2457542.524998 +/-0.000416 (BJD_TDB) and the orbital period is 2.8717510 +/- 0.0000029 days. We encourage Rossiter-McLaughlin measurements in the near future to confirm the suspected spin-orbit misalignment of this system.