Exoplanets in the Antarctic sky. II. 116 transiting exoplanet candidates found by AST3-II (CHESPA) within the southern CVZ of TESS

Hui Zhang, Zhouyi Yu, Ensi Liang, Ming Yang, Michael C. B. Ashley, Xiangqun Cui, Fujia Du, Jianning Fu, Xuefei Gong, Bozhong Gu, Yi Hu, Peng Jiang, Huigen Liu, Jon Lawrence, Qiang Liu, Xiaoyan Li, Zhengyang Li, Bin Ma, Jeremy Mould, Zhaohui ShangNicholas B. Suntzeff, Charling Tao, Qiguo Tian, C. G. Tinney, Syed A. Uddin, Lifan Wang, Songhu Wang, Xiaofeng Wang, Peng Wei, Duncan Wright, Xuefeng Wu, Robert A. Wittenmyer, Lingzhe Xu, Shi Hai Yang, Ce Yu, Xiangyan Yuan, Jessica Zheng, Hongyan Zhou, Ji Lin Zhou, Zhenxi Zhu

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11 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

We report first results from the CHinese Exoplanet Searching Program from Antarctica (CHESPA) - a wide-field high-resolution photometric survey for transiting exoplanets carried out using telescopes of the AST3 (Antarctic Survey Telescopes times 3) project. There are now three telescopes (AST3-I, AST3-II, and CSTAR-II) operating at Dome A - the highest point on the Antarctic Plateau - in a fully automatic and remote mode to exploit the superb observing conditions of the site, and its long and uninterrupted polar nights. The search for transiting exoplanets is one of the key projects for AST3. During the austral winters of 2016 and 2017 we used the AST3-II telescope to survey a set of target fields near the southern ecliptic pole, falling within the continuous viewing zone of the TESS mission. The first data release of the 2016 data, including images, catalogs, and light curves of 26,578 bright stars (7.5 ≤ mj ≤ 15), was presented in Zhang et al. The best precision, as measured by the rms of the light curves at the optimum magnitude of the survey (mj = 10), is around 2 mmag. We detect 222 objects with plausible transit signals from these data, 116 of which are plausible transiting exoplanet candidates according to their stellar properties as given by the TESS Input Catalog, Gaia DR2, and TESS-HERMES spectroscopy. With the first data release from TESS expected in late 2018, this candidate list will be timely for improving the rejection of potential false-positives.

Original languageEnglish
Article number17
Pages (from-to)1-37
Number of pages37
JournalThe Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series
Volume240
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2019

Bibliographical note

Copyright 2019 The American Astronomical Society. First published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 240(2), 17, 2019, published by IOP Publishing. The original publication is available at http://www.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/aaf583. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • binaries: eclipsing
  • catalogs
  • planets and satellites: detection
  • stars: variables: general
  • surveys
  • techniques: photometric

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