Predicted transit times of Kepler-51b, c, and d

Kepler-51 is a <=1Gyr old Sun-like star hosting three transiting planets with radii ~6-9R_{Earth} and orbital periods ~45-130days. Transit timing variations (TTVs) measured with past Kepler and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations have been successfully modeled by considering gravitational interactions between the three transiting planets, yielding low masses and low mean densities (<=0.1g/cm^3^) for all three planets. However, the transit time of the outermost transiting planet Kepler-51d recently measured by the James Webb Space Telescope 10yr after the Kepler observations is significantly discrepant from the prediction made by the three-planet TTV model, which we confirmed with ground-based and follow-up HST observations. We show that the departure from the three-planet model is explained by including a fourth outer planet, Kepler-51e, in the TTV model. A wide range of masses (<=M_Jup) and orbital periods (<=10yr) are possible for Kepler-51e. Nevertheless, all the coplanar solutions found from our brute-force search imply masses <=10M_{Earth} for the inner transiting planets. Thus, their densities remain low, though with larger uncertainties than previously estimated. Unlike other possible solutions, the one in which Kepler-51e is around the 2:1 mean motion resonance with Kepler-51d implies low orbital eccentricities (<=0.05) and comparable masses (~5M{Earth}_) for all four planets, as is seen in other compact multiplanet systems. This work demonstrates the importance of long-term follow-up of TTV systems for probing longer-period planets in a system.

Identifier
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/168/294
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/168/294
Related Identifier https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/168/294
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/168/294
Provenance
Creator Masuda K.; Libby-Roberts J.E.; Livingston J.H.; Stevenson K.B.; Gao P.,Vissapragada S.; Fu G.; Han Te; Greklek-McKeon M.; Mahadevan S.; Agol E.,Bello-Arufe A.; Berta-Thompson Z.; Canas C.I.; Chachan Y.; Hebb L.; Hu R.,Kawashima Y.; Knutson H.A.; Morley C.V.; Murray C.A.; Ohno K.,Tokadjian A.; Zhang Xi; Welbanks L.; Nixon M.C.; Freedman R.; Narita N.,Fukui A.; de Leon J.P.; Mori M.; Palle E.; Murgas F.; Parviainen H.,Esparza-Borges E.; Jontof-Hutter D.; Collins K.A.; Benni P.; Barkaoui K.,Pozuelos F.J.; Gillon M.; Jehin E.; Benkhaldoun Z.; Hawley S.; Lin A.S.J.,Stefansson G.; Bieryla A.; Yilmaz M.; Senavci H.V.; Girardin E.,Marino G.; Wang G.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2025
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
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Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Exoplanet Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics