Protostars and Planets VI, Heidelberg, July 15-20, 2013
Poster 2K037
New transit observations of WASP-12 b
Maciejewski, Gracjan (Centre for Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland)
Dimitrov, Dinko (Institute of Astronomy and NAO, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria)
Kjurkchieva, Diana (Department of Physics, Shumen University, 9700 Shumen, Bulgaria)
Bukowiecki, Lukasz (Centre for Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland)
Puchalski, Damian (Centre for Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland)
Abstract:
The transiting extrasolar planet WASP-12 b was announced to exhibit a sign of variations in transit timing. The postulated signal has a period of 550 days and a semi-amplitude of 2 min. Joint analysis of the radial velocities and transit timing resulted in a two-planet model which fits observations much better than a single-planet model. This finding allows us to advance the hypothesis that WASP-12 b is accompanied by additional, less massive planet on a tight orbit. Statistical studies of hot Jupiter candidates in the Kepler sample show that these planets are rare in multi-transiting planetary systems. Solitariness of hot Jupiters is postulated to be a result of the dynamical evolution of their planetary systems. The WASP-12 system would be an interesting outlier which would be challenging for theories of evolution of planetary systems. We present new observations gathered in the observing season 2012/2013 that confirm the transit timing signal and refine its characteristics.
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