Discovery and characterisation of two Neptune-mass planets orbiting HD 212729 with TESS

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and detailed characterization of two Neptune-mass exoplanets orbiting HD 212729, including their physical parameters, orbital dynamics, and potential stellar association.

Contribution

It presents the first confirmed Neptune-mass planet transiting HD 212729 and characterizes a second non-transiting planet using combined TESS photometry and HARPS radial velocities.

Findings

TOI-1052b has a radius of 2.87 R_⊕ and a mass of 16.9 M_⊕.

TOI-1052c has a minimum mass of 34.3 M_⊕ and orbits at 35.8 days.

Both planets have marginally significant eccentricities and are part of a potential wide binary system.

Abstract

We report the discovery of two exoplanets orbiting around HD 212729 (TOI\,1052, TIC 317060587), a $T_{\rm eff}=6146$K star with V=9.51 observed by TESS in Sectors 1 and 13. One exoplanet, TOI-1052b, is Neptune-mass and transits the star, and an additional planet TOI-1052c is observed in radial velocities but not seen to transit. We confirm the planetary nature of TOI-1052b using precise radial velocity observations from HARPS and determined its parameters in a joint RV and photometry analysis. TOI-1052b has a radius of $2.87^{+0.29}_{-0.24}$ R$_{\oplus}$, a mass of $16.9\pm 1.7$ M$_{\oplus}$, and an orbital period of 9.14 days. TOI-1052c does not show any transits in the TESS data, and has a minimum mass of $34.3^{+4.1}_{-3.7}$ M$_{\oplus}$ and an orbital period of 35.8 days, placing it just interior to the 4:1 mean motion resonance. Both planets are best fit by relatively high but only marginally significant eccentricities of $0.18^{+0.09}_{-0.07}$ for planet b and $0.24^{+0.09}_{-0.08}$ for planet c. We perform a dynamical analysis and internal structure model of the planets as well as deriving stellar parameters and chemical abundances. The mean density of TOI-1052b is $3.9^{+1.7}_{-1.3}$ g cm$^{-3}$ consistent with an internal structure similar to Neptune. A nearby star is observed in Gaia DR3 with the same distance and proper motion as TOI-1052, at a sky projected separation of ~1500AU, making this a potential wide binary star system.