Title
A planet within the debris disk around the pre-main-sequence star AU Microscopii
Abstract
AU Microscopii (AU Mic) is the second closest pre-main-sequence star, at a distance of 9.79 parsecs and with an age of 22 million years1. AU Mic possesses a relatively rare2 and spatially resolved3 edge-on debris disk extending from about 35 to 210 astronomical units from the star4, and with clumps exhibiting non-Keplerian motion5–7. Detection of newly formed planets around such a star is challenged by the presence of spots, plage, flares and other manifestations of magnetic ‘activity’ on the star8,9. Here we report observations of a planet transiting AU Mic. The transiting planet, AU Mic b, has an orbital period of 8.46 days, an orbital distance of 0.07 astronomical units, a radius of 0.4 Jupiter radii, and a mass of less than 0.18 Jupiter masses at 3σ confidence. Our observations of a planet co-existing with a debris disk offer the opportunity to test the predictions of current models of planet formation and evolution.
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2400-z
Publication Date
6-25-2020
Recommended Citation
Plavchan, Peter; Barclay, Thomas; Gagné, Jonathan; Cancino, Andrew; Giddens, Frank; Huber, Joseph; Klenke, Chris; Nishimoto, America; Weigand, Denise; and For complete list of authors, see publisher's website., "A planet within the debris disk around the pre-main-sequence star AU Microscopii" (2020). Articles by College of Natural and Applied Sciences Faculty. 1599.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/articles-cnas/1599
Journal Title
Nature