Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: We find the orbit of the Neptune-sized exoplanet HAT-P-11b to be highly inclined relative to the equatorial plane of its host star. This conclusion is based on spectroscopic observations of two transits, which allowed the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect to be detected with an amplitude of 1.5 m s −1 . The sky-projected obliquity is 103 +26 −10 deg. This is the smallest exoplanet for which spin–orbit alignment has been measured. The result favors a migration scenario involving few-body interactions followed by tidal dissipation. This finding also conforms with the pattern that the systems with the weakest tidal interactions have the widest spread in obliquities. We predict that the high obliquity of HAT-P-11 will be manifest in transit light curves from the Kepler spacecraft: starspot-crossing anomalies will recur at most once per stellar rotation period, rather than once per orbital period as they would for a well-aligned system.
Authors: Joshua N. Winn, John Asher Johnson, Andrew W. Howard, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Howard Isaacson, Avi Shporer, Gáspár Á. Bakos, Joel D. Hartman, Simon Albrecht
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Discovering further transiting extrasolar planets with HATNet, JOSHUA WINN/MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY EXOPLANETARY SPIN-ORBIT ALIGNMENT THE SUN'S SPIN AXIS AND THE PLANETS' ORBITAL AXES ARE, HATNET DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF EXOPLANETS TRANSITING BRIGHT STARSSUMMARY: THE PRIMARY GOAL
OpenAlex ID: W1992258122