SCExAO/CHARIS and Gaia Direct Imaging and Astrometric Discovery of a Superjovian Planet 3--4 lambda/D from the Accelerating Star HIP 54515

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a superjovian exoplanet around HIP 54515 using combined high-contrast imaging and astrometry, providing new insights into massive planet properties and testing future space telescope capabilities.

Contribution

It is the first to combine Gaia astrometry with SCExAO/CHARIS imaging for a superjovian planet, advancing detection techniques and understanding of massive exoplanets.

Findings

Discovered a superjovian planet at 25 au with moderate eccentricity.

Constrained the planet's mass to approximately 17.7 Jupiter masses.

Demonstrated the potential of combined astrometry and high-contrast imaging for exoplanet detection.

Abstract

We present the discovery of a superjovian planet around the young A5 star HIP 54515, detected using precision astrometry from the Hipparcos Gaia Catalogue of Accelerations and high-contrast imaging with SCExAO/CHARIS from the recently-commenced OASIS program. SCExAO/CHARIS detects HIP 54515 b in five epochs 0\farcs{}145--0\farcs{}192 from the star ($\sim$3--4 $\lambda$/D at 1.65 $\mu m$), exhibiting clockwise orbital motion. HIP 54515 b lies near the M/L transition with a luminosity of log(L/L$_{\rm \odot}$) $\sim$ -3.52 $\pm$ 0.03. Dynamical modeling constrains its mass and mass ratio to be ${17.7}_{-4.9}^{+7.6}$ $M_{\rm Jup}$ and ${0.0090}_{-0.0024}^{+0.0036}$ and favors a $\sim$25 au semimajor axis. HIP 54515 b adds to a growing list of superjovian planets with moderate eccentricities (e $\approx$ 0.4). Now the third planet discovered from surveys combining high-contrast extreme adaptive optics imaging with precision astrometry, HIP 54515 b should help improve empirical constraints on the luminosity evolution and eccentricity distribution of the most massive planets. It may also provide a key technical test of the Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument's performance in the low stellar flux, small angular separation limit and a demonstration of its ability to yield constrainable planet spectral properties.