π Earth: A 3.14 day Earth-sized Planet from K2's Kitchen Served Warm by the SPECULOOS Team

October 2020 • 2020AJ....160..172N

Authors • Niraula, Prajwal • Wit, Julien de • Rackham, Benjamin V. • Ducrot, Elsa • Burdanov, Artem • Crossfield, Ian J. M. • Van Grootel, Valérie • Murray, Catriona • Garcia, Lionel J. • Alonso, Roi • Beard, Corey • Maqueo Chew, Yilen Gómez • Delrez, Laetitia • Demory, Brice-Olivier • Fulton, Benjamin J. • Gillon, Michaël • Günther, Maximilian N. • Howard, Andrew W. • Issacson, Howard • Jehin, Emmanuël • Pedersen, Peter P. • Pozuelos, Francisco J. • Queloz, Didier • Rebolo-López, Rafael • Lalitha, Sairam • Sebastian, Daniel • Thompson, Samantha • Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.

Abstract • We report on the discovery of a transiting Earth-sized (0.95R_⊕) planet around an M3.5 dwarf star at 57 pc, EPIC 249631677. The planet has a period of ∼3.14 days, i.e., ∼π, with an installation of 7.45 S_⊕. The detection was made using publicly available data from K2's Campaign 15. We observed three additional transits with SPECULOOS Southern and Northern Observatories, and a stellar spectrum from Keck/HIRES, which allowed us to validate the planetary nature of the signal. The confirmed planet is well suited for comparative terrestrial exoplanetology. While exoplanets transiting ultracool dwarfs present the best opportunity for atmospheric studies of terrestrial exoplanets with the James Webb Space Telescope, those orbiting mid-M dwarfs within 100 pc such as EPIC 249631677b will become increasingly accessible with the next generation of observatories.

Links

• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2020AJ....160..172N
• PDF https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aba95f/pdf
• PDF https://stacks.iop.org/1538-3881/160/172/pdf
• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/2006.07308
• DATA https://archive.stsci.edu/mastbibref.php?bibcode=2020AJ....160..172N
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.3847%2F1538-3881%2Faba95f
• DATA http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/DisplayOverview/nph-DisplayOverview?type=REFERENCE&bibcode=2020arXiv200607308N