WASP-52b, WASP-58b, WASP-59b, and WASP-60b: Four new transiting close-in giant planets^⋆

¹ Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095 CNRS, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
e-mail: hebrard@iap.fr
² Observatoire de Haute-Provence, CNRS/OAMP, 04870 Saint-Michel-l’Observatoire, France
³ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK
⁴ Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Univ. de Provence, CNRS (UMR 6110), 38 r. F. Joliot Curie, 13388 Marseille Cedex 13, France
⁵ Astrophysics Group, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK
⁶ Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland
⁷ Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, University Road, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
⁸ Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Apartado de Correos 321, 38700 Santa Cruz de Palma, Spain
⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
¹⁰ OverSky, 47 allée des Palanques, BP 12, 33127 Saint-Jean d’Illac, France
¹¹ Las Cumbres Observatory, 6740 Cortona Drive Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117, USA
¹² The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
¹³ Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
¹⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, 6301 Stevenson Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA

Received: 11 September 2012
Accepted: 5 November 2012

Abstract

We present the discovery of four new transiting hot Jupiters, detected mainly from SuperWASP-North and SOPHIE observations. These new planets, WASP-52b, WASP-58b, WASP-59b, and WASP-60b, have orbital periods ranging from 1.7 to 7.9 days, masses between 0.46 and 0.94 M_Jup, and radii between 0.73 and 1.49 R_Jup. Their G1 to K5 dwarf host stars have V magnitudes in the range 11.7−13.0. The depths of the transits are between 0.6 and 2.7%, depending on the target. With their large radii, WASP-52b and WASP-58b are new cases of low-density, inflated planets, whereas WASP-59b is likely to have a large, dense core. WASP-60 shows shallow transits. In the case of WASP-52 we also detected the Rossiter-McLaughlin anomaly via time-resolved spectroscopy of a transit. We measured the sky-projected obliquity λ = 24° ⁺¹⁷_-9, indicating that WASP-52b orbits in the same direction as its host star isrotating and that this prograde orbit is slightly misaligned with the stellar equator. These four new planetary systems increase our statistics on hot Jupiters and provide new targets for follow-up studies.