Abstract
Using Campaign 15 data from the K2 mission, we have discovered a triply-eclipsing triple star system: EPIC 249432662. The inner eclipsing binary system has a period of 8.23 days, with shallow ∼3% eclipses. During the entire 80-day campaign, there is also a single eclipse event of a third-body in the system that reaches a depth of nearly 50% and has a total duration of 1.7 days, longer than for any previously known third-body eclipse involving unevolved stars. The binary eclipses exhibit clear eclipse timing variations. A combination of photodynamical modeling of the lightcurve, as well as seven follow-up radial velocity measurements, has led to a prediction of the subsequent eclipses of the third star with a period of 188 days. A campaign of follow-up ground-based photometry was able to capture the subsequent pair of third-body events as well as two further 8-day eclipses. A combined photo-spectro-dynamical analysis then leads to the determination of many of the system parameters. The 8-day binary consists of a pair of M stars, while most of the system light is from a K star around which the pair of M stars orbits.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 483 |
Issue number | 2 |
Pages (from-to) | 1934–1951 |
ISSN | 0035-8711 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2018 The Author(s)Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Keywords
- Binaries: close
- Binaries: eclipsing
- Stars: individual: EPIC 249432662