Letter to the Editor

No planet around HD 219542 B^*

¹ INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell' Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
² McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
³ INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell' Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
⁴ INAF - Centro Galileo Galiei, Calle Alvarez de Abreu 70, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma (TF), Spain
⁵ CISAS - Università di Padova, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
⁶ LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Section de Meudon, 92195 Meudon Principal Cedex, France
⁷ Dipartimento di Astronomia - Università di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 2, 35131 Padova, Italy
⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica - Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35122 Padova, Italy

Corresponding author: S. Desidera, desidera@pd.astro.it

Received: 5 April 2004
Accepted: 30 April 2004

Abstract

The star HD 219542 B has been reported by us (Desidera et al. 2003) to show low-amplitude radial velocity variations that could be due to the presence of a Saturn-mass planetary companion or to stellar activity phenomena. In this letter we present the results of the continuation of the radial velocity monitoring as well as a discussion of literature determinations of the chromospheric activity of the star (Wright et al. 2004). These new data indicate that the observed radial velocity variations are likely related to stellar activity. In particular, there are indications that HD 219542 B underwent a phase of enhanced stellar activity in 2002 while the activity level has been lower in both 2001 and 2003. Our 2003 radial velocity measurements now deviate from our preliminary orbital solution and the peak in the power spectrum at the proposed planet period is severely reduced by the inclusion of the new data. We therefore dismiss the planet hypothesis as the cause of the radial velocity variations.