_version_ 1866911521359003648
author Taş, Kaya Han
Stefansson, Gudmundur
Fariz, Syarief N. M.
Garg, Esha
Espinoza-Retamal, Juan I.
Koo, Elise
Bruijne, David
Luhn, Jacob
Ford, Eric B.
Mahadevan, Suvrath
Logsdon, Sarah E.
Cañas, Caleb I.
Han, Te
Everett, Mark E.
Alvarado-Montes, Jaime A.
Blake, Cullen
Cochran, William D.
Dong, Jiayin
Fernandes, Rachel B.
Giovinazzi, Mark R.
Halverson, Samuel
Kanodia, Shubham
Krolikowski, Daniel
McElwain, Michael
Ninan, Joe
Paredes, Leonardo A.
Robertson, Paul
Schwab, Christian
author_facet Taş, Kaya Han
Stefansson, Gudmundur
Fariz, Syarief N. M.
Garg, Esha
Espinoza-Retamal, Juan I.
Koo, Elise
Bruijne, David
Luhn, Jacob
Ford, Eric B.
Mahadevan, Suvrath
Logsdon, Sarah E.
Cañas, Caleb I.
Han, Te
Everett, Mark E.
Alvarado-Montes, Jaime A.
Blake, Cullen
Cochran, William D.
Dong, Jiayin
Fernandes, Rachel B.
Giovinazzi, Mark R.
Halverson, Samuel
Kanodia, Shubham
Krolikowski, Daniel
McElwain, Michael
Ninan, Joe
Paredes, Leonardo A.
Robertson, Paul
Schwab, Christian
contents We present the discovery and confirmation of the ultra-short period (USP) planet TOI-2431 b orbiting a nearby ($d\sim36$ pc) late K star ($T_{\mathrm{eff}}$ = $4109 \pm 28 \, {\rm K}$) using observations from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), precise radial velocities with the NEID and the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF) spectrographs, as well as ground-based high contrast imaging from NESSI. TOI-2431 b has a period of 5 hours and 22 minutes, making it one of the shortest-period exoplanets known to date. TOI-2431 b has a radius of $1.536 \pm 0.033\, \rm{R_\oplus}$, and a mass of $6.2 \pm 1.2\, \rm{M_\oplus}$, suggesting it has a density compatible with an Earth-like composition and, due to its high irradiation, is likely a 'lava-world' with a $T_{\mathrm{eq}}$ = $2063 \pm 30 \, {\rm K}$. We estimate that the current orbital period is only 30% larger than the Roche-limit orbital period, and that it has an expected orbital decay timescale of only $\sim$31 Myr. Finally, due to the brightness of the host star ($V = 10.9$, $K = 7.6$), TOI-2431 b has a high Emission Spectroscopy Metric of 27, making it one of the best USP systems for atmospheric phase-curve analysis.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_08464
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Earth-Sized Planet in a 5.4h Orbit Around a Nearby K dwarf
Taş, Kaya Han
Stefansson, Gudmundur
Fariz, Syarief N. M.
Garg, Esha
Espinoza-Retamal, Juan I.
Koo, Elise
Bruijne, David
Luhn, Jacob
Ford, Eric B.
Mahadevan, Suvrath
Logsdon, Sarah E.
Cañas, Caleb I.
Han, Te
Everett, Mark E.
Alvarado-Montes, Jaime A.
Blake, Cullen
Cochran, William D.
Dong, Jiayin
Fernandes, Rachel B.
Giovinazzi, Mark R.
Halverson, Samuel
Kanodia, Shubham
Krolikowski, Daniel
McElwain, Michael
Ninan, Joe
Paredes, Leonardo A.
Robertson, Paul
Schwab, Christian
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
We present the discovery and confirmation of the ultra-short period (USP) planet TOI-2431 b orbiting a nearby ($d\sim36$ pc) late K star ($T_{\mathrm{eff}}$ = $4109 \pm 28 \, {\rm K}$) using observations from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), precise radial velocities with the NEID and the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF) spectrographs, as well as ground-based high contrast imaging from NESSI. TOI-2431 b has a period of 5 hours and 22 minutes, making it one of the shortest-period exoplanets known to date. TOI-2431 b has a radius of $1.536 \pm 0.033\, \rm{R_\oplus}$, and a mass of $6.2 \pm 1.2\, \rm{M_\oplus}$, suggesting it has a density compatible with an Earth-like composition and, due to its high irradiation, is likely a 'lava-world' with a $T_{\mathrm{eq}}$ = $2063 \pm 30 \, {\rm K}$. We estimate that the current orbital period is only 30% larger than the Roche-limit orbital period, and that it has an expected orbital decay timescale of only $\sim$31 Myr. Finally, due to the brightness of the host star ($V = 10.9$, $K = 7.6$), TOI-2431 b has a high Emission Spectroscopy Metric of 27, making it one of the best USP systems for atmospheric phase-curve analysis.
title An Earth-Sized Planet in a 5.4h Orbit Around a Nearby K dwarf
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.08464