3 Exoplanets Found in Open Cluster M67

Three planetary companions around M67 stars

Authors:

Brucalassi et al

Abstract:

For the past six years we have carried out a search for massive planets around main sequence and evolved stars in the open cluster (OC) M67, using radial velocity (RV) measurements obtained with HARPS at ESO (La Silla), SOPHIE at OHP and HRS at HET. Additional RV data come from CORALIE at the Euler Swiss Telescope. We aim to perform a long-term study on giant planet formation in open clusters and determine how it depends on stellar mass and chemical composition.

We report the detection of three new extrasolar planets: two in orbit around the two G dwarfs YBP1194 and YBP1514, and one around the evolved star S364. The orbital solution for YBP1194 yields a period of 6.9 days, an eccentricity of 0.24, and a minimum mass of 0.34 Mj. YBP1514 shows periodic RV variations of 5.1 days, a minimum mass of 0.40 Mj, and an eccentricity of 0.39. The best Keplerian solution for S364 yields a period of 121.7 days, an eccentricity of 0.35 and a minimum mass of 1.54 Mj. An analysis of H_alpha core flux measurements as well as of the line bisectors spans revealed no correlation with the RV periods, indicating that the RV variations are best explained by the presence of a planetary companion. Remarkably, YBP1194 is one of the best solar twins identified so far, and YBP1194b is the first planet found around a solar twin that belongs to a stellar cluster. In contrast with early reports and in agreement with recent findings, our results show that massive planets around stars of open clusters are as frequent as those around field stars.