Winer Observatory

ABSTRACT We present the discovery of a hot Jupiter transiting the V = 9.23 mag main-sequence A-star KELT-17 (BD+14 1881). KELT-17b is a , hot-Jupiter in a 3.08-day period orbit misaligned at −115.°9 ± 4.°1 to the rotation axis of the star. The planet is confirmed via both the detection of the radial velocity orbit, and the Doppler tomographic detection of the shadow of the planet during two transits. The nature of the spin–orbit misaligned transit geometry allows us to place a constraint on the level of differential rotation in the host star; we find that KELT-17 is consistent with both rigid-body rotation and solar differential rotation rates ( at significance). KELT-17 is only the fourth A-star with a confirmed transiting planet, and with a mass of , an effective temperature of 7454 ± 49 K, and a projected rotational velocity of it is among the most massive, hottest, and most rapidly rotating of known planet hosts.

We report the discovery of KELT-6b, a mildly inflated Saturn-mass planet transiting a metal-poor host. The initial transit signal was identified in KELT-North survey data, and the planetary nature of the occulter was established using a combination of follow-up photometry, high-resolution imaging, high-resolution spectroscopy, and precise radial velocity measurements. The fiducial model from a global analysis including constraints from isochrones indicates that the V = 10.38 host star (BD+31 2447) is a mildly evolved, late-F star with Teff = 6102 ± 43 K, , and [Fe/H] = −0.28 ± 0.04, with an inferred mass M⋆ = 1.09 ± 0.04 M☉ and radius . The planetary companion has mass MP = 0.43 ± 0.05 MJup, radius , surface gravity , and density . The planet is on an orbit with semimajor axis a = 0.079 ± 0.001 AU and eccentricity , which is roughly consistent with circular, and has ephemeris of Tc(BJDTDB) = 2456347.79679 ± 0.00036 and P = 7.845631 ± 0.000046 days. Equally plausible fits that employ empirical constraints on the host-star parameters rather than isochrones yield a larger planet mass and radius by ∼4}–7}. KELT-6b has surface gravity and incident flux similar to HD 209458b, but orbits a host that is more metal poor than HD 209458 by ∼0.3 dex. Thus, the KELT-6 system offers an opportunity to perform a comparative measurement of two similar planets in similar environments around stars of very different metallicities. The precise radial velocity data also reveal an acceleration indicative of a longer-period third body in the system, although the companion is not detected in Keck adaptive optics images.

We present the discovery of KELT-1b, the first transiting low-mass companion from the wide-field Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope-North (KELT-North) survey. The V=10.7 primary is a mildly evolved, solar-metallicity, mid-F star. The companion is a low-mass brown dwarf or super-massive planet with mass of 27.23+/-0.50 MJ and radius of 1.110+0.037-0.024 RJ, on a very short period (P=1.21750007) circular orbit. KELT-1b receives a large amount of stellar insolation, with an equilibrium temperature assuming zero albedo and perfect redistribution of 2422 K. Upper limits on the secondary eclipse depth indicate that either the companion must have a non-zero albedo, or it must experience some energy redistribution. Comparison with standard evolutionary models for brown dwarfs suggests that the radius of KELT-1b is significantly inflated. Adaptive optics imaging reveals a candidate stellar companion to KELT-1, which is consistent with an M dwarf if bound. The projected spin-orbit alignment angle is consistent with zero stellar obliquity, and the vsini of the primary is consistent with tidal synchronization. Given the extreme parameters of the KELT-1 system, we expect it to provide an important testbed for theories of the emplacement and evolution of short-period companions, and theories of tidal dissipation and irradiated brown dwarf atmospheres.

We report the discovery of KELT-2Ab, a hot Jupiter transiting the bright (V = 8.77) primary star of the HD 42176 binary system. The host is a slightly evolved late F-star likely in the very short-lived "blue-hook" stage of evolution, with T-eff = 6148 +/- 48 K, log g = 4.030(-0.026)(+0.015) and [Fe/H] = 0.034 +/- 0.78. The inferred stellar mass is M-* = 1.314(-0.060)(+0.063) M-circle dot and the star has a relatively large radius of R-* = 1.836(-0.046)(+0.066) R-circle dot. The planet is a typical hot Jupiter with period 4.1137913 +/- 0.00001 days and a mass of M-P = 1.524 +/- 0.088M(J) and radius of R-P = 1.290(-0.050)(+0.064) R-J. This is mildly inflated as compared to models of irradiated giant planets at the similar to 4 Gyr age of the system. KELT-2A is the third brightest star with a transiting planet identified by ground-based transit surveys, and the ninth brightest star overall with a transiting planet. KELT-2Ab's mass and radius are unique among the subset of planets with V < 9 host stars, and therefore increases the diversity of bright benchmark systems. We also measure the relative motion of KELT-2A and -2B over a baseline of 38 years, robustly demonstrating for the first time that the stars are bound. This allows us to infer that KELT-2B is an early K dwarf. We hypothesize that through the eccentric Kozai mechanism KELT-2B may have emplaced KELT-2Ab in its current orbit. This scenario is potentially testable with Rossiter-McLaughlin measurements, which should have an amplitude of similar to 44 m s(-1).

The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) project is a survey for planetary transits of bright stars. It consists of a small-aperture, wide-field automated telescope located at Winer Observatory near Sonoita, Arizona. The telescope surveys a set of 26 x 26 degree fields, together covering about 25% of the Northern sky, targeting stars in the range of 8<V<10 mag, searching for transits by close-in Jupiters. This paper describes the system hardware and software and discusses the quality of the observations. We show that KELT is able to achieve the necessary photometric precision to detect planetary transits around solar-type main sequence stars.