Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT 'EM) Survey. II. Discovery of a Failed Hot Jupiter on a 2.7 Yr, Highly Eccentric Orbit
Abstract
Radial velocity (RV) surveys have discovered giant exoplanets on au-scale orbits with a broad distribution of eccentricities. Those with the most eccentric orbits are valuable laboratories for testing theories of high-eccentricity migration. However, few such exoplanets transit their host stars, thus removing the ability to apply constraints on formation from their bulk internal compositions. We report the discovery of Kepler-1704 b, a transiting 4.15 MJ giant planet on a 988.88 day orbit with an extreme eccentricity of ${0.921}_{-0.015}^{+0.010}$ . Our decade-long RV baseline from the Keck I telescope allows us to measure the orbit and bulk heavy-element composition of Kepler-1704 b and place limits on the existence of undiscovered companions. A failed hot Jupiter, Kepler-1704 b was likely excited to high eccentricity by scattering events that possibly began during its gas accretion phase. Its final periastron distance was too large to allow for tidal circularization, so now it orbits its host from distances spanning 0.16-3.9 au. The maximum difference in planetary equilibrium temperature resulting from this elongated orbit is over 700 K. A simulation of the thermal phase curve of Kepler-1704 b during periastron passage demonstrates that it is a remarkable target for atmospheric characterization from the James Webb Space Telescope, which could potentially also measure the planet's rotational period as the hot spot from periastron rotates in and out of view. Continued characterization of the Kepler-1704 system promises to refine theories explaining the formation of hot Jupiters and cool giant planets like those in the solar system. * Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- October 2021
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-3881/ac134b
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2107.06901
- Bibcode:
- 2021AJ....162..154D
- Keywords:
-
- Exoplanet migration;
- Exoplanet formation;
- Transit photometry;
- Extrasolar gaseous planets;
- Radial velocity;
- 2205;
- 492;
- 1709;
- 2172;
- 1332;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 27 pages, 16 figures, published in AJ (2021, 162, 154). This version includes updated planet ephemeris (Tables 2, 3, and 4) as described in erratum to be published in AJ
