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Published February 20, 2012 | Published
Journal Article Open

Kepler-21b: A 1.6 R_(Earth) Planet Transiting the Bright Oscillating F Subgiant Star HD 179070

Abstract

We present Kepler observations of the bright (V = 8.3), oscillating star HD 179070. The observations show transit-like events which reveal that the star is orbited every 2.8 days by a small, 1.6 R_(Earth) object. Seismic studies of HD 179070 using short cadence Kepler observations show that HD 179070 has a frequency-power spectrum consistent with solar-like oscillations that are acoustic p-modes. Asteroseismic analysis provides robust values for the mass and radius of HD 179070, 1.34 ± 0.06 M_☉ and 1.86 ± 0.04 R_☉, respectively, as well as yielding an age of 2.84 ± 0.34 Gyr for this F5 subgiant. Together with ground-based follow-up observations, analysis of the Kepler light curves and image data, and blend scenario models, we conservatively show at the >99.7% confidence level (3σ) that the transit event is caused by a 1.64 ± 0.04 R_(Earth) exoplanet in a 2.785755 ± 0.000032 day orbit. The exoplanet is only 0.04 AU away from the star and our spectroscopic observations provide an upper limit to its mass of ~10 M_(Earth) (2σ). HD 179070 is the brightest exoplanet host star yet discovered by Kepler.

Additional Information

© 2012 American Astronomical Society. Received 2011 September 8; accepted 2011 November 21; published 2012 January 31. Based in part on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology, the Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, and the WIYN Observatory which is a joint facility of NOAO, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Indiana University, and Yale University. We thank John Johnson for use of some of his Keck Time. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC/NExScI Star and Exoplanet Database, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The authors thank the Kepler Science Office and the Science Operations Center personal for their dedicated effort to the mission and for providing us access to the science office data products. The ground-based observations reported on herein were obtained at Kitt Peak National Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. Kepler was selected as the 10th mission of the Discovery Program. Funding for this mission is provided by NASA. Facilities: Kepler

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Created:
August 22, 2023
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October 24, 2023