The Transit Light Curve Project. IX. Evidence for a Smaller Radius of the Exoplanet XO‐3b

2008/04/28 by Joshua N. Winn, Matthew J. Holman, Guillermo Torres +11 · 7 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Exoplanet #History and Developments in Astronomy #Light curve #Occultation #Photometry (optics) #Planet #RADIUS #Stellar density #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Surface gravity #Transit (satellite) #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/589737

To appear in ApJ [22 pages]

arxiv created 2008/04/28 · openalex publication_date 2008/08/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We present photometry of 13 transits of XO-3b, a massive transiting planet on an eccentric orbit. Previous data led to two inconsistent estimates of the planetary radius. Our data strongly favor the smaller radius, with increased precision: R p = 1.217 ± 0.073 R Jup . A conflict remains between the mean stellar density determined from the light curve, and the stellar surface gravity determined from the shapes of spectral lines. We argue the light curve should take precedence, and revise the system parameters accordingly. The planetary radius is about 1 σ larger than the theoretical radius for a hydrogen-helium planet of the given mass and insolation. To help in planning future observations, we provide refined transit and occultation ephemerides.

Citations

• The Transit Light Curve Project. II. Two Transits of the Exoplanet OGLE-TR-111b
• Towards Better Age Estimates for Stellar Populations: The Y² Isochrones for Solar Mixture
• Improved Parameters for Extrasolar Transiting Planets
• Y 2 Isochrones with an Improved Core Overshoot Treatment
• XO‐2b: Transiting Hot Jupiter in a Metal‐rich Common Proper Motion Binary
• Prospects for the Characterization and Confirmation of Transiting Exoplanets via the Rossiter‐McLaughlin Effect
• The Transit Light Curve Project. I. Four Consecutive Transits of the Exoplanet XO‐1b
• Planetary Radii across Five Orders of Magnitude in Mass and Stellar Insolation: Application to Transits
• Doppler follow-up of OGLE transiting companions in the Galactic bulge

Cited by

• PARAMETER ESTIMATION FROM TIME-SERIES DATA WITH CORRELATED ERRORS: A WAVELET-BASED METHOD AND ITS APPLICATION TO TRANSIT LIGHT CURVES
• THE 4.5 μm FULL-ORBIT PHASE CURVE OF THE HOT JUPITER HD 209458b
• Physical properties and transmission spectrum of the WASP-74 planetary system from multiband photometry
• THE TRANSIT LIGHT-CURVE PROJECT. XIV. CONFIRMATION OF ANOMALOUS RADII FOR THE EXOPLANETS TrES-4b, HAT-P-3b, AND WASP-12b
• WASP-17b: AN ULTRA-LOW DENSITY PLANET IN A PROBABLE RETROGRADE ORBIT
• An improved method for estimating the masses of stars with transiting planets
• Kepler-22b: A 2.4 EARTH-RADIUS PLANET IN THE HABITABLE ZONE OF A SUN-LIKE STAR

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• THE TRANSIT LIGHT-CURVE PROJECT. XIV. CONFIRMATION OF ANOMALOUS RADII FOR THE EXOPLANETS TrES-4b, HAT-P-3b, AND WASP-12b
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• Radius Study of Ten Transiting Hot Jupiter Exoplanets with Ground-Based Observations
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• Photometric observation of transiting extrasolar planet WASP - 10b