Direct Imaging discovery of a second planet candidate around the possibly transiting planet host CVSO 30^⋆

¹ Hamburger Sternwarte, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
e-mail: tschmidt@hs.uni-hamburg.de
² Astrophysikalisches Institut und Universitäts-Sternwarte, Universität Jena, Schillergäßchen 2-3, 07745 Jena, Germany
³ Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory CTIO/AURA/NOAO, Colina El Pino s/n. Casilla 603, 1700000 La Serena, Chile
⁴ Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso, Avenida Gran Bretaña 1111, 2340000 Valparaíso, Chile
⁵ European Space Agency ESA, ESTEC, SRE-S, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
⁶ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA
⁷ Sterrewacht Leiden, PO Box 9513, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
⁸ Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
⁹ School of Physics and Astronomy SUPA, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, KY16 9SS, UK

Received: 16 April 2015
Accepted: 14 March 2016

Abstract

Context. Direct imaging has developed into a very successful technique for the detection of exoplanets in wide orbits, especially around young stars. Directly imaged planets can be both followed astrometrically on their orbits and observed spectroscopically and thus provide an essential tool for our understanding of the early solar system.

Aims. We surveyed the 25 Ori association for direct-imaging companions. This association has an age of only few million years. Among other targets, we observed CVSO 30, which has recently been identified as the first T Tauri star found to host a transiting planet candidate.

Methods. We report on photometric and spectroscopic high-contrast observations with the Very Large Telescope, the Keck telescopes, and the Calar Alto observatory. They reveal a directly imaged planet candidate close to the young M3 star CVSO 30.

Results. The JHK-band photometry of the newly identified candidate is at better than 1σ consistent with late-type giants, early-T and early-M dwarfs, and free-floating planets. Other hypotheses such as galaxies can be excluded at more than 3.5σ. A lucky imaging z′ photometric detection limit z′ = 20.5 mag excludes early-M dwarfs and results in less than 10 M_Jup for CVSO 30 c if bound. We present spectroscopic observations of the wide companion that imply that the only remaining explanation for the object is that it is the first very young (<10 Myr) L – T-type planet bound to a star, meaning that it appears bluer than expected as a result of a decreasing cloud opacity at low effective temperatures. Only a planetary spectral model is consistent with the spectroscopy, and we deduce a best-fit mass of 4–5 Jupiter masses (total range 0.6–10.2 Jupiter masses).

Conclusions. This means that CVSO 30 is the first system in which both a close-in and a wide planet candidate are found to have a common host star. The orbits of the two possible planets could not be more different: they have orbital periods of 10.76 h and about 27 000 yr. The two orbits may have formed during a mutual catastrophic event of planet-planet scattering.