Winn, Joshua N.; Matthews, Jaymie M.; Dawson, Rebekah I.; Fabrycky, Daniel; Holman, Matthew J.; Kallinger, Thomas; Kuschnig, Rainer; Sasselov, Dimitar; Dragomir, Diana; Guenther, David B.
Abstract:
We have detected transits of the innermost planet “e” orbiting 55 Cnc (V = 6.0), based on two weeks of nearly continuous photometric monitoring with the MOST space telescope. The transits occur with the period (0.74 days) and phase that had been predicted by Dawson & Fabrycky, and with the expected duration and depth for the crossing of a Sun-like star by a hot super-Earth. Assuming the star’s mass and radius to be 0.963+0.051 −0.029 M☉ and 0.943±0.010 R☉, the planet’s mass, radius, and mean density are 8.63±0.35 M⊕, 2.00±0.14 R⊕, and 5.9+1.5 −1.1 g cm−3, respectively. The mean density is comparable to that of Earth, despite the greater mass and consequently greater compression of the interior of 55 Cnc e. This suggests a rock-iron composition supplemented by a significant mass of water, gas, or other light elements. Outside of transits, we detected a sinusoidal signal resembling the expected signal due to the changing illuminated phase of the planet, but with a full range (168 ± 70 ppm) too large to be reflected light or thermal emission. This signal has no straightforward interpretation and should be checked with further observations. The host star of 55 Cnc e is brighter than that of any other known transiting planet, which will facilitate future investigations.