KOI-126: A Triply Eclipsing Hierarchical Triple with Two Low-Mass Stars
/ Authors
J. Carter, D. Fabrycky, D. Ragozzine, M. Holman, S. Quinn, D. Latham, L. Buchhave, J. V. van Cleve, W. Cochran, M. Cote
and 13 more authors
M. Endl, E. Ford, M. Haas, J. Jenkins, D. Koch, J. Li, J. Lissauer, P. Macqueen, C. Middour, J. Orosz, J. Rowe, J. Steffen, W. Welsh
/ Abstract
The Kepler telescope detected a triple stellar system and reveals details of the structure of low-mass stars. The Kepler spacecraft has been monitoring the light from 150,000 stars in its primary quest to detect transiting exoplanets. Here, we report on the detection of an eclipsing stellar hierarchical triple, identified in the Kepler photometry. KOI-126 [A, (B, C)], is composed of a low-mass binary [masses MB = 0.2413 ± 0.0030 solar mass (M☉), MC = 0.2127 ± 0.0026 M☉; radii RB = 0.2543 ± 0.0014 solar radius (R☉), RC = 0.2318 ± 0.0013 R☉; orbital period P1 = 1.76713 ± 0.00019 days] on an eccentric orbit about a third star (mass MA = 1.347 ± 0.032 M☉; radius RA = 2.0254 ± 0.0098 R☉; period of orbit around the low-mass binary P2 = 33.9214 ± 0.0013 days; eccentricity of that orbit e2 = 0.3043 ± 0.0024). The low-mass pair probe the poorly sampled fully convective stellar domain offering a crucial benchmark for theoretical stellar models.
Journal: Science