Kepler Observations of Transiting Hot Compact Objects

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Date

2010-04

Authors

Rowe, Jason F.
Borucki, William J.
Koch, David
Howell, Steve B.
Basri, Gibor
Batalha, Natalie
Brown, Timothy M.
Caldwell, Douglas
Cochran, William D.
Dunham, Edward

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Abstract

Kepler photometry has revealed two unusual transiting companions: one orbiting an early A-star and the other orbiting a late B-star. In both cases, the occultation of the companion is deeper than the transit. The occultation and transit with follow-up optical spectroscopy reveal a 9400 K early A-star, KOI-74 (KIC 6889235), with a companion in a 5.2 day orbit with a radius of 0.08R(circle dot) and a 10,000 K late B-star KOI-81 (KIC 8823868) that has a companion in a 24 day orbit with a radius of 0.2R(circle dot). We infer a temperature of 12,250 K for KOI-74b and 13,500 K for KOI-81b. We present 43 days of high duty cycle, 30 minute cadence photometry, with models demonstrating the intriguing properties of these objects, and speculate on their nature.

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Rowe, Jason F., William J. Borucki, David Koch, Steve B. Howell, Gibor Basri, Natalie Batalha, Timothy M. Brown et al. "Kepler observations of transiting hot compact objects." The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 713, No. 2 (Apr., 2010): L150.