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author Scott, Madison G.
Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.
Barkaoui, Khalid
Sebastian, Daniel
Burgasser, Adam J.
Collins, Karen A.
Dransfield, Georgina
Hellier, Coel
Howell, Steve B.
Piette, Anjali A. A.
Rackham, Benjamin V.
Stassun, Keivan G.
Stockholm, Amalie
Timmermans, Mathilde
Watkins, Cristilyn N.
Fausnaugh, Michael
Fukui, Akihiko
Jenkins, Jon M.
Narita, Norio
Ricker, George
Softich, Emma
Schwarz, Richard P.
Seager, Sara
Shporer, Avi
Theissen, Christopher
Twicken, Joseph D.
Winn, Joshua N.
Watanabe, David
author_facet Scott, Madison G.
Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.
Barkaoui, Khalid
Sebastian, Daniel
Burgasser, Adam J.
Collins, Karen A.
Dransfield, Georgina
Hellier, Coel
Howell, Steve B.
Piette, Anjali A. A.
Rackham, Benjamin V.
Stassun, Keivan G.
Stockholm, Amalie
Timmermans, Mathilde
Watkins, Cristilyn N.
Fausnaugh, Michael
Fukui, Akihiko
Jenkins, Jon M.
Narita, Norio
Ricker, George
Softich, Emma
Schwarz, Richard P.
Seager, Sara
Shporer, Avi
Theissen, Christopher
Twicken, Joseph D.
Winn, Joshua N.
Watanabe, David
contents Growing numbers of exoplanet detections continue to reveal the diverse nature of planetary systems. Planet formation around late-type M dwarfs is of particular interest. These systems provide practical laboratories to measure exoplanet occurrence rates for M dwarfs, thus testing how the outcomes of planet formation scale with host mass, and how they compare to Sun-like stars. Here, we report the discovery of TOI-6478b, a cold ($T_{\text{eq}}=204\,$K) Neptune-like planet orbiting an M5 star ($R_\star=0.234\pm0.012\,\text{R}_\odot$, $M_\star=0.230\pm0.007\,\text{M}_\odot$, $T_{\text{eff}}=3230\pm75\,$K) which is a member of the Milky Way's thick disc. We measure a planet radius of $R_b=4.6\pm0.24\,\text{R}_\oplus$ on a $P_b=34.005019\pm0.000025\,$d orbit. Using radial velocities, we calculate an upper mass limit of $M_b\leq9.9\,\text{M}_\oplus$ ($M_b\leq0.6\,\text{M}_{\text{Nep}})$, with $3\,σ$ confidence. TOI-6478b is a milestone planet in the study of cold, Neptune-like worlds. Thanks to its large atmospheric scale height, it is amenable to atmospheric characterisation with facilities such as JWST, and will provide an excellent probe of atmospheric chemistry in this cold regime. It is one of very few transiting exoplanets that orbit beyond their system's ice-line whose atmospheric chemical composition can be measured. Based on our current understanding of this planet, we estimate TOI-6478b's spectroscopic features (in transmission) can be $\sim2.5\times$ as high as the widely studied planet K2-18b.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_06848
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle TOI-6478 b: a cold under-dense Neptune transiting a fully convective M dwarf from the thick disc
Scott, Madison G.
Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.
Barkaoui, Khalid
Sebastian, Daniel
Burgasser, Adam J.
Collins, Karen A.
Dransfield, Georgina
Hellier, Coel
Howell, Steve B.
Piette, Anjali A. A.
Rackham, Benjamin V.
Stassun, Keivan G.
Stockholm, Amalie
Timmermans, Mathilde
Watkins, Cristilyn N.
Fausnaugh, Michael
Fukui, Akihiko
Jenkins, Jon M.
Narita, Norio
Ricker, George
Softich, Emma
Schwarz, Richard P.
Seager, Sara
Shporer, Avi
Theissen, Christopher
Twicken, Joseph D.
Winn, Joshua N.
Watanabe, David
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Growing numbers of exoplanet detections continue to reveal the diverse nature of planetary systems. Planet formation around late-type M dwarfs is of particular interest. These systems provide practical laboratories to measure exoplanet occurrence rates for M dwarfs, thus testing how the outcomes of planet formation scale with host mass, and how they compare to Sun-like stars. Here, we report the discovery of TOI-6478b, a cold ($T_{\text{eq}}=204\,$K) Neptune-like planet orbiting an M5 star ($R_\star=0.234\pm0.012\,\text{R}_\odot$, $M_\star=0.230\pm0.007\,\text{M}_\odot$, $T_{\text{eff}}=3230\pm75\,$K) which is a member of the Milky Way's thick disc. We measure a planet radius of $R_b=4.6\pm0.24\,\text{R}_\oplus$ on a $P_b=34.005019\pm0.000025\,$d orbit. Using radial velocities, we calculate an upper mass limit of $M_b\leq9.9\,\text{M}_\oplus$ ($M_b\leq0.6\,\text{M}_{\text{Nep}})$, with $3\,σ$ confidence. TOI-6478b is a milestone planet in the study of cold, Neptune-like worlds. Thanks to its large atmospheric scale height, it is amenable to atmospheric characterisation with facilities such as JWST, and will provide an excellent probe of atmospheric chemistry in this cold regime. It is one of very few transiting exoplanets that orbit beyond their system's ice-line whose atmospheric chemical composition can be measured. Based on our current understanding of this planet, we estimate TOI-6478b's spectroscopic features (in transmission) can be $\sim2.5\times$ as high as the widely studied planet K2-18b.
title TOI-6478 b: a cold under-dense Neptune transiting a fully convective M dwarf from the thick disc
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.06848