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New MOST† Photometry of the 55 Cancri System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Diana Dragomir ,
Jaymie M. Matthews ,
Joshua N. Winn ,
Jason F. Rowe  and
MOST Science Team
Diana Dragomir
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1, Canada Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, 6740 Cortona Drive, Suite 102, Santa Barbara, CA 93117, USA email: ddragomir@lcogt.net
Jaymie M. Matthews
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1, Canada
Joshua N. Winn
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Jason F. Rowe
Affiliation:
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035
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Abstract

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Since the discovery of its transiting nature, the super-Earth 55 Cnc e has become one of the most enthusiastically studied exoplanets, having been observed spectroscopically and photometrically, in the ultraviolet, optical and infrared regimes. To this rapidly growing data set, we contribute 42 days of new, nearly continuous MOST photometry of the 55 Cnc system. Our analysis of these observations together with the discovery photometry obtained in 2011 allows us to determine the planetary radius (1.990+0.084−0.080) and orbital period (0.7365417+0.0000025−0.0000028) of 55 Cnc e with unprecedented precision. We also followed up on the out-of-transit phase variation first observed in the 2011 photometry, and set an upper limit on the depth of the planet's secondary eclipse, leading to an upper limit on its geometric albedo of 0.6.

Keywords

binariesplanetary systemstechniques: photometricstars: individual (55 Cnc)
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 8 , Symposium S293: Formation, Detection, and Characterization of Extrasolar Habitable Planets , August 2012 , pp. 52 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2014 

Footnotes

†

Based on data from the MOST satellite, a Canadian Space Agency mission operated by Microsatellite Systems Canada Inc. (MSCI; former Dynacon Inc.) and the Universities of Toronto and British Columbia, with the assistance of the University of Vienna.

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