Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evidence For Reflected Light From The Most Eccentric Exoplanet Known, Stephen R. Kane, Robert A. Wittenmyer, Natalie R. Hinkel, Arpita Roy, Suvrath Mahadevan, Diana Dragomir, Jaymie M. Matthews, Gregory W. Henry, Abhijit Chakraborty, Tabetha S. Boyajian

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

Planets in highly eccentric orbits form a class of objects not seen within our solar system. The most extreme case known among these objects is the planet orbiting HD 20782, with an orbital period of 597 days and an eccentricity of 0.96. Here we present new data and analysis for this system as part of the Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey. We obtained CHIRON spectra to perform an independent estimation of the fundamental stellar parameters. New radial velocities from Anglo-Australian Telescope and PARAS observations during periastron passage greatly improve our knowledge of the eccentric nature of the orbit. The …