Search Publications
Magnetic Fields in the Horsehead Nebula
Pattle, Kate; Hwang, Jihye; Kim, Jongsoo +2 more
We present the first polarized dust emission measurements of the Horsehead Nebula, obtained using the POL-2 polarimeter on the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The Horsehead Nebula contains two submillimeter sources: a photodissociation region (PDR; SMM1) and a starless core (SMM2).…
The Great Dimming of the Hypergiant Star RW Cephei: CHARA Array Images and Spectral Analysis
Gies, Douglas R.; Monnier, John D.; Schaefer, Gail H. +15 more
The cool hypergiant star RW Cephei is currently in a deep photometric minimum that began several years ago. This event bears a strong similarity to the Great Dimming of the red supergiant Betelgeuse that occurred in 2019-2020. We present the first resolved images of RW Cephei that we obtained with the CHARA Array interferometer. The angular diamet…
Planetary Orbit Eccentricity Trends (POET). I. The Eccentricity-Metallicity Trend for Small Planets Revealed by the LAMOST-Gaia-Kepler Sample
Zhou, Ji-Lin; Xie, Ji-Wei; Dai, Yuan-Zhe +1 more
Orbital eccentricity is one of the basic planetary properties, whose distribution may shed light on the history of planet formation and evolution. Here, in a series of works on Planetary Orbit Eccentricity Trends (dubbed POET), we study the distribution of planetary eccentricities and their dependence on stellar/planetary properties. In this paper…
TOI 560: Two Transiting Planets Orbiting a K Dwarf Validated with iSHELL, PFS, and HIRES RVs
Deming, Drake; Gorjian, Varoujan; Hellier, Coel +93 more
We validate the presence of a two-planet system orbiting the 0.15-1.4 Gyr K4 dwarf TOI 560 (HD 73583). The system consists of an inner moderately eccentric transiting mini-Neptune (TOI 560 b, $P={6.3980661}_{-0.0000097}^{+0.0000095}$ days, $e={0.294}_{-0.062}^{+0.13}$ , $M={0.94}_{-0.23}^{+0.31}{M}_{\mathrm{Nep}}$ ) initially discovered in the Sec…
A Catalog of Distance Determinations for the LAMOST DR8 K Giants in the Galactic Halo
Zhao, Gang; Rix, Hans-Walter; Yang, Chengqun +4 more
We present a catalog of distances for 19,544 K giants drawn from Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) DR8. Most of them are located in the halo of the Milky Way up to ~120 kpc. There are 15% K giants without Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry, for which we supplements with Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) photometry calibrat…
Disintegration of Long-period Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)
Mutchler, Max; Jewitt, David; Agarwal, Jessica +3 more
We present imaging observations of the disintegrating long-period comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard). High-resolution observations with the Hubble Space Telescope show no evidence for surviving fragments, and place a 3σ upper limit on their possible radius of ~60 m (albedo 0.1 assumed). In contrast, wide-field observations from the Swan Hill Observatory, A…
Revisiting Orbital Evolution in HAT-P-2 b and Confirmation of HAT-P-2 c
Fulton, Benjamin J.; Howard, Andrew W.; Winn, Joshua N. +5 more
One possible formation mechanism for Hot Jupiters is that high-eccentricity gas giants experience tidal interactions with their host star that cause them to lose orbital energy and migrate inwards. We study these types of tidal interactions in an eccentric Hot Jupiter called HAT-P-2 b, which is a system where a long-period companion has been sugge…
Three Ultra-short-period Contact Eclipsing Binary Systems Mined from Massive Astronomical Surveys
Ferreira Lopes, C. E.; Drake, Andrew J.; Catelan, Márcio +3 more
We present the photometric analysis of three ultra-short-period total eclipsing binaries in contact configuration, CRTS_J172718.0+431624, OGLE-BLG-ECL-000104, and OGLE-BLG-ECL-000012, mined from massive astronomical surveys. Using the available archival light curves (LCs) from Vista Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV), Optical Gravitational Lensing …
Revisiting the Red Giant Branch Hosts KOI-3886 and ι Draconis. Detailed Asteroseismic Modeling and Consolidated Stellar Parameters
Chaplin, William J.; Kane, Stephen R.; Huber, Daniel +23 more
Asteroseismology is playing an increasingly important role in the characterization of red giant host stars and their planetary systems. Here, we conduct detailed asteroseismic modeling of the evolved red giant branch (RGB) hosts KOI-3886 and ι Draconis, making use of end-of-mission Kepler (KOI-3886) and multisector TESS (ι Draconis) time-series ph…
The Galactic Interstellar Object Population: A Framework for Prediction and Inference
Bannister, Michele T.; Mackereth, J. Ted; Forbes, John C. +2 more
The Milky Way is thought to host a huge population of interstellar objects (ISOs), numbering approximately 1015 pc-3 around the Sun, which are formed and shaped by a diverse set of processes ranging from planet formation to Galactic dynamics. We define a novel framework, first to predict the properties of this Galactic ISO po…