TESS Spots a Super-Puff: The Remarkably Low Density of TOI-1420b

TL;DR

The paper reports the discovery and detailed characterization of TOI-1420b, a remarkably low-density, large-radius planet with a substantial gaseous envelope, making it an ideal candidate for atmospheric studies.

Contribution

This study provides the first detailed characterization of TOI-1420b, revealing its extremely low density, large gaseous envelope, and potential for future atmospheric and dynamical observations.

Findings

TOI-1420b has a density of 0.08 g/cm^3, the lowest among known planets of similar size.

The planet's envelope mass fraction is approximately 82%, indicating runaway gas accretion.

TOI-1420b is an excellent target for atmospheric characterization with a high transmission spectroscopy metric.

Abstract

We present the discovery of TOI-1420b, an exceptionally low-density ($\rho = 0.08\pm0.02$ g cm$^{-3}$) transiting planet in a $P = 6.96$ day orbit around a late G dwarf star. Using transit observations from TESS, LCOGT, OPM, Whitin, Wendelstein, OAUV, Ca l'Ou, and KeplerCam along with radial velocity observations from HARPS-N and NEID, we find that the planet has a radius of $R_p$ = 11.9 $\pm$ 0.3 $R_\Earth$ and a mass of $M_p$ = 25.1 $\pm$ 3.8 $M_\Earth$. TOI-1420b is the largest-known planet with a mass less than $50M_\Earth$, indicating that it contains a sizeable envelope of hydrogen and helium. We determine TOI-1420b's envelope mass fraction to be $f_{env} = 82^{+7}_{-6}\%$, suggesting that runaway gas accretion occurred when its core was at most $4-5\times$ the mass of the Earth. TOI-1420b is similar to the planet WASP-107b in mass, radius, density, and orbital period, so a comparison of these two systems may help reveal the origins of close-in low-density planets. With an atmospheric scale height of 1950 km, a transmission spectroscopy metric of 580, and a predicted Rossiter-McLaughlin amplitude of about $17$ m s$^{-1}$, TOI-1420b is an excellent target for future atmospheric and dynamical characterization.