PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet

© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. PTFO 8-8695 (CVSO 30) is a star in the 7-10 million year old Orion OB1a cluster that shows brightness dips that resemble planetary transits. Although strong evidence against the planet hypothesis has been presented, the possibility rem...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bouma, LG, Winn, JN, Ricker, GR, Vanderspek, R, Latham, DW, Seager, S, Jenkins, JM, Barclay, T, Collins, KA, Doty, JP, Louie, DR, Quinn, SN, Rose, ME, Smith, JC, Villaseñor, J, Wohler, B
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Astronomical Society 2021
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134073
_version_ 1826210196364460032
author Bouma, LG
Winn, JN
Ricker, GR
Vanderspek, R
Latham, DW
Seager, S
Jenkins, JM
Barclay, T
Collins, KA
Doty, JP
Louie, DR
Quinn, SN
Rose, ME
Smith, JC
Villaseñor, J
Wohler, B
author_facet Bouma, LG
Winn, JN
Ricker, GR
Vanderspek, R
Latham, DW
Seager, S
Jenkins, JM
Barclay, T
Collins, KA
Doty, JP
Louie, DR
Quinn, SN
Rose, ME
Smith, JC
Villaseñor, J
Wohler, B
author_sort Bouma, LG
collection MIT
description © 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. PTFO 8-8695 (CVSO 30) is a star in the 7-10 million year old Orion OB1a cluster that shows brightness dips that resemble planetary transits. Although strong evidence against the planet hypothesis has been presented, the possibility remains debated in the literature. To obtain further clues, we inspected data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the ESA Gaia mission. The Gaia data suggest that PTFO 8-8695 is a binary: the photometric data show it to be overluminous with respect to members of its kinematic group, and the astrometric data are inconsistent with a single star. The TESS light curve shows two different photometric periods. The variability is dominated by a sinusoidal signal with a period of 11.98 hr, presumably caused by stellar rotation. Also present is a 10.76 hr signal consisting of a not-quite sinusoid interrupted by hour-long dips, the type of signal previously interpreted as planetary transits. The phase of the dips is nearly 180 away from the phase of the originally reported dips. As noted previously, this makes them difficult to explain as planetary transits. Instead, we believe that PTFO 8-8695 is a pair of young and rapidly rotating M dwarfs, one of which shows the same "transient-dipper"behavior that has been seen in at least five other cases. The origin of these transient dips is still unknown but likely involves circumstellar material.
first_indexed 2024-09-23T14:45:58Z
format Article
id mit-1721.1/134073
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
language English
last_indexed 2024-09-23T14:45:58Z
publishDate 2021
publisher American Astronomical Society
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/1340732021-10-28T03:33:53Z PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet Bouma, LG Winn, JN Ricker, GR Vanderspek, R Latham, DW Seager, S Jenkins, JM Barclay, T Collins, KA Doty, JP Louie, DR Quinn, SN Rose, ME Smith, JC Villaseñor, J Wohler, B © 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. PTFO 8-8695 (CVSO 30) is a star in the 7-10 million year old Orion OB1a cluster that shows brightness dips that resemble planetary transits. Although strong evidence against the planet hypothesis has been presented, the possibility remains debated in the literature. To obtain further clues, we inspected data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the ESA Gaia mission. The Gaia data suggest that PTFO 8-8695 is a binary: the photometric data show it to be overluminous with respect to members of its kinematic group, and the astrometric data are inconsistent with a single star. The TESS light curve shows two different photometric periods. The variability is dominated by a sinusoidal signal with a period of 11.98 hr, presumably caused by stellar rotation. Also present is a 10.76 hr signal consisting of a not-quite sinusoid interrupted by hour-long dips, the type of signal previously interpreted as planetary transits. The phase of the dips is nearly 180 away from the phase of the originally reported dips. As noted previously, this makes them difficult to explain as planetary transits. Instead, we believe that PTFO 8-8695 is a pair of young and rapidly rotating M dwarfs, one of which shows the same "transient-dipper"behavior that has been seen in at least five other cases. The origin of these transient dips is still unknown but likely involves circumstellar material. 2021-10-27T19:57:57Z 2021-10-27T19:57:57Z 2020 2021-09-29T18:29:07Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134073 en 10.3847/1538-3881/AB9E73 Astronomical Journal Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society
spellingShingle Bouma, LG
Winn, JN
Ricker, GR
Vanderspek, R
Latham, DW
Seager, S
Jenkins, JM
Barclay, T
Collins, KA
Doty, JP
Louie, DR
Quinn, SN
Rose, ME
Smith, JC
Villaseñor, J
Wohler, B
PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet
title PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet
title_full PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet
title_fullStr PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet
title_full_unstemmed PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet
title_short PTFO 8-8695: Two Stars, Two Signals, No Planet
title_sort ptfo 8 8695 two stars two signals no planet
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134073
work_keys_str_mv AT boumalg ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT winnjn ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT rickergr ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT vanderspekr ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT lathamdw ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT seagers ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT jenkinsjm ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT barclayt ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT collinska ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT dotyjp ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT louiedr ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT quinnsn ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT roseme ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT smithjc ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT villasenorj ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet
AT wohlerb ptfo88695twostarstwosignalsnoplanet