Georgieva, I. Y.; Persson, C. M.; Barragán, O.; Nowak, G.; Fridlund, M.; Locci, D.; Palle, E.; Luque, R.; Carleo, I.; Gandolfi, D.; Kane, S. R.; Korth, J.; Stassun, K. G.; Livingston, J.; Matthews, E. C.; Collins, K. A.; Howell, S. B.; Serrano, L. M.; Albrecht, S.; Bieryla, A.; Brasseur, C. E.; Ciardi, D.; Cochran, W. D.; Colon, K. D.; Crossfield, I. J. M.; Csizmadia, Sz; Deeg, H. J.; Esposito, M.; Furlan, E.; Gan, T.; Goffo, E.; Gonzales, E.; Grziwa, S.; Guenther, E. W.; Guerra, P.; Hirano, T.; Jenkins, J. M.; Jensen, E. L. N.; Kabáth, P.; Knudstrup, E.; Lam, K. W. F.; Latham, D. W.; Levine, A. M.; Matson, R. A.; McDermott, S.; Osborne, H. L. M.; Paegert, M.; Quinn, S. N.; Redfield, S.; Ricker, G. R.; Schlieder, J. E.; Scott, N. J.; Seager, S.; Smith, A. M. S.; Tenenbaum, P.; Twicken, J. D.; Vanderspek, R.; Van Eylen, V.; Winn, J. N.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description
We present the discovery and characterization of two sub-Neptunes in close orbits, as well as a tentative outer planet of a similar size, orbiting TOI-1260 - a low metallicity K6 V dwarf star. Photometry from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS) yields radii of Rb = 2.33 ± 0.10 and Rc = 2.82 ± 0.15 R⊕, and periods of 3.13 and 7.49 d for TOI-1260 b and TOI-1260 c, respectively. We combined the TESS data with a series of ground-based follow-up observations to characterize the planetary system. From HARPS-N high-precision radial velocities we obtain Mb = $8.6 _{ - 1.5 } ^ { + 1.4 }$ and Mc = $11.8 _{ - 3.2 } ^ { + 3.4 }$ M⊕. The star is moderately active with a complex activity pattern, which necessitated the use of Gaussian process regression for both the light-curve detrending and the radial velocity modelling, in the latter case guided by suitable activity indicators. We successfully disentangle the stellar-induced signal from the planetary signals, underlining the importance and usefulness of the Gaussian process approach. We test the system's stability against atmospheric photoevaporation and find that the TOI-1260 planets are classic examples of the structure and composition ambiguity typical for the 2-3 R⊕ range.
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