A search for transiting planets in the β Pictoris system^★

¹ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
e-mail: kenworthy@strw.leidenuniv.nl
² Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
³ Graz University of Technology, Institute of Communication Networks and Satellite Communications, Infeldgasse 12, 8010 Graz, Austria

Received: 13 September 2017
Accepted: 22 March 2018

Abstract

Context. Transiting exoplanets provide an opportunity for the characterization of their atmospheres, and finding the brightest star in the sky with a transiting planet enables high signal-to-noise ratio observations. The Kepler satellite has detected over 365 multiple transiting exoplanet systems, a large fraction of which have nearly coplanar orbits. If one planet is seen to transit the star, then it is likely that other planets in the system will transit the star too. The bright (V = 3.86) star β Pictoris is a nearby young star with a debris disk and gas giant exoplanet, β Pictoris b, in a multi-decade orbit around it. Both the planet’s orbit and disk are almost edge-on to our line of sight.

Aims. We carry out a search for any transiting planets in the β Pictoris system with orbits of less than 30 days that are coplanar with the planet β Pictoris b.

Methods. We search for a planetary transit using data from the BRITE-Constellation nanosatellite BRITE-Heweliusz, analyzing the photometry using the Box-Fitting Least Squares Algorithm (BLS). The sensitivity of the method is verified by injection of artificial planetary transit signals using the Bad-Ass Transit Model cAlculatioN (BATMAN) code.

Results. No planet was found in the BRITE-Constellation data set. We rule out planets larger than 0.6 R_J for periods of less than 5 days, larger than 0.75 R_J for periods of less than 10 days, and larger than 1.05 R_J for periods of less than 20 days.