Transit Photometry of the Core-Dominated Planet HD 149026b

Abstract

We report g, V, and r photometric time series of HD 149026 spanning predicted times of transit of the Saturn-mass planetary companion, which was recently discovered by Sato and collaborators. We present a joint analysis of our observations and the previously reported photometry and radial velocities of the central star. We refine the estimate of the transit ephemeris to Tc [HJD] = 2453527.87455^{+0.00085}_{-0.00091} + N * 2.87598^{+0.00012}_{-0.00017}. Assuming that the star has a radius of 1.45 +/- 0.10 R_Sun and a mass of 1.30 +/- 0.10 M_Sun, we estimate the planet radius to be 0.726 +/- 0.064 R_Jup, which implies a mean density of 1.07^{+0.42}_{-0.30} g/cm^3. This density is significantly greater than that predicted for models which include the effects of stellar insolation and for which the planet has only a small core of solid material. Thus we confirm that this planet likely contains a large core, and that the ratio of core mass to total planet mass is more akin to that of Uranus and Neptune than that of either Jupiter or Saturn.

18 pages, 4 figures, submitted to ApJ

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