K2-288Bb: A Small Temperate Planet in a Low-mass Binary System Discovered by Citizen Scientists
Name
Feinstein_2019_AJ_157_40.pdf
Size
3.94 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
3648c7f6616ecd99ffc8d6063d9bcd2b
Author(s)
Feinstein, Adina D.
Schlieder, Joshua E.
Livingston, John H.
Ciardi, David R.
Howard, Andrew W.
Arnold, Lauren
Barentsen, Geert
Bristow, Makennah
Christiansen, Jessie L.
Crossfield, Ian Jm
Date Issued
January 2019
Journal
Astronomical Journal
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Feinstein, Adina D. et al. “K2-288Bb: A Small Temperate Planet in a Low-Mass Binary System Discovered by Citizen Scientists.” The Astronomical Journal 157, 2 (January 2019): 40 © The American Astronomical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Observations from the Kepler and K2 missions have provided the astronomical community with unprecedented amounts of data to search for transiting exoplanets and other astrophysical phenomena. Here, we present K2-288, a low-mass binary system (M2.0 ± 1.0; M3.0 ± 1.0) hosting a small (R p = 1.9 R[subscript ⊕]), temperate (T[subscript eq] = 226 K) planet observed in K2 Campaign 4. The candidate was first identified by citizen scientists using Exoplanet Explorers hosted on the Zooniverse platform. Follow-up observations and detailed analyses validate the planet and indicate that it likely orbits the secondary star on a 31.39-day period. This orbit places K2-288Bb in or near the habitable zone of its low-mass host star. K2-288Bb resides in a system with a unique architecture, as it orbits at > 0.1 au from one component in a moderate separation binary (a[subscript proj] ~ 55 au), and further follow-up may provide insight into its formation and evolution. Additionally, its estimated size straddles the observed gap in the planet radius distribution. Planets of this size occur less frequently and may be in a transient phase of radius evolution. K2-288 is the third transiting planet system identified by the Exoplanet Explorers program and its discovery exemplifies the value of citizen science in the era of Kepler, K2, and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aafa70
