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G. Torres (CfA), M. Konacki (CalTech), D. D. Sasselov (Harvard), S. Jha (Berkeley)
Last year our team announced the discovery of the second extrasolar transiting planet, around the faint star OGLE-TR-56 (V = 16.6), based on the detection of small changes in the radial velocity of the primary. The star is located in the direction of the Galactic center, and was originally identified as a candidate by the OGLE team from the shallow and periodic dips in its brightness. We present here new precise radial velocity measurements that confirm the variation measured earlier, and show definitively that the companion is indeed a planet. Additional photometric observations are also available, which combined with the spectroscopy yield improved parameters (mass and radius) for the planet. We discuss the implications for the theory of extrasolar planet evolution.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.