TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME) V: A Sub-Neptune Transiting a Young Star in a Newly Discovered 250 Myr Association

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and characterization of a sub-Neptune exoplanet orbiting a young star in a newly identified 250-million-year-old stellar association, providing insights into early planetary evolution.

Contribution

It introduces the discovery of a young exoplanet in a newly identified stellar association, demonstrating the use of combined photometry and stellar characterization techniques.

Findings

The planet has a radius of approximately 3.2 Earth radii.

The host star is part of a new young stellar association, MELANGE-1.

Young planets tend to have larger radii than older, field-age planets.

Abstract

The detection and characterization of young planetary systems offers a direct path to study the processes that shape planet evolution. We report on the discovery of a sub-Neptune-size planet orbiting the young star HD 110082 (TOI-1098). Transit events we initially detected during TESS Cycle 1 are validated with time-series photometry from Spitzer. High-contrast imaging and high-resolution, optical spectra are also obtained to characterize the stellar host and confirm the planetary nature of the transits. The host star is a late F dwarf (M=1.2 Msun) with a low-mass, M dwarf binary companion (M=0.26 Msun) separated by nearly one arcminute (~6200 AU). Based on its rapid rotation and Lithium absorption, HD 110082 is young, but is not a member of any known group of young stars (despite proximity to the Octans association). To measure the age of the system, we search for coeval, phase-space neighbors and compile a sample of candidate siblings to compare with the empirical sequences of young clusters and to apply quantitative age-dating techniques. In doing so, we find that HD 110082 resides in a new young stellar association we designate MELANGE-1, with an age of 250(+50/-70) Myr. Jointly modeling the TESS and Spitzer light curves, we measure a planetary orbital period of 10.1827 days and radius of Rp = 3.2(+/-0.1) Earth radii. HD 110082 b's radius falls in the largest 12% of field-age systems with similar host star mass and orbital period. This finding supports previous studies indicating that young planets have larger radii than their field-age counterparts.