Search

We report the confirmation and mass determination of three hot Jupiters discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission: HIP 65Ab (TOI-129, TIC-201248411) is an ultra-short-period Jupiter orbiting a bright (V=11.1 mag) K4-dwarf every 0.98 days. It is a massive 3.213 +/- 0.078 Mjup planet in a grazing transit configuration with an impact parameter of b = 1.17 +0.10/-0.08. As a result the radius is poorly constrained, 2.03 +0.61/-0.49 Rjup. The planet's distance to its host star is less than twice the separation at which it would be destroyed by Roche lobe overflow. It is expected to spiral into HIP 65A on a timescale ranging from 80 Myr to a few gigayears, assuming a reduced tidal dissipation quality factor of Qs' = 10^7 - 10^9. We performed a full phase-curve analysis of the TESS data and detected both illumination- and ellipsoidal variations as well as Doppler boosting. HIP 65A is part of a binary stellar system, with HIP 65B separated by 269 AU (3.95 arcsec on sky). TOI-157b (TIC 140691463) is a typical hot Jupiter with a mass of 1.18 +/- 0.13 Mjup and a radius of 1.29 +/- 0.02 Rjup. It has a period of 2.08 days, which corresponds to a separation of just 0.03 AU. This makes TOI-157 an interesting system, as the host star is an evolved G9 sub-giant star (V=12.7). TOI-169b (TIC 183120439) is a bloated Jupiter orbiting a V=12.4 G-type star. It has a mass of 0.79 +/- 0.06 Mjup and a radius of 1.09 +0.08/-0.05 Rjup. Despite having the longest orbital period (P = 2.26 days) of the three planets, TOI-169b receives the most irradiation and is situated on the edge of the Neptune desert. All three host stars are metal rich with [Fe/H] ranging from 0.18 - 0.24., Comment: Published in A&A

We present the discovery and characterisation of two transiting planets observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) orbiting the nearby (d ~ 22 pc), bright (J ~ 9 mag) M3.5 dwarf LTT 3780 (TOI-732). We confirm both planets and their association with LTT 3780 via ground-based photometry and determine their masses using precise radial velocities measured with the CARMENES spectrograph. Precise stellar parameters determined from CARMENES high resolution spectra confirm that LTT 3780 is a mid-M dwarf with an effective temperature of T_eff = 3360 +\- 51 K, a surface gravity of log(g) = 4.81 +/- 0.04 (cgs), and an iron abundance of [Fe/H] = 0.09 +/- 0.16 dex, with an inferred mass of M_star = 0.379 +/- 0.016 M_sun and a radius of R_star = 0.382 +/- 0.012 R_sun. The ultra-short-period planet LTT 3780 b (P_b = 0.77 d) with a radius of 1.35^{+0.06}_{-0.06} R_earth, a mass of 2.34^{+0.24}_{-0.23} M_earth, and a bulk density of 5.24^{+0.94}_{-0.81} g cm^{-3} joins the population of Earth-size planets with rocky, terrestrial composition. The outer planet, LTT 3780 c, with an orbital period of 12.25 d, radius of 2.42^{+0.10}_{-0.10} R_earth, mass of 6.29^{+0.63}_{-0.61} M_earth, and mean density of 2.45^{+0.44}_{-0.37} g cm^{-3} belongs to the population of dense sub-Neptunes. With the two planets located on opposite sides of the radius gap, this planetary system is an excellent target for testing planetary formation, evolution and atmospheric models. In particular, LTT 3780 c is an ideal object for atmospheric studies with the James Webb Space Telescope., Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables, submitted to A&A

We report the discovery of a new planetary system with three transiting planets, one super-Earth and two sub-Neptunes, that orbit EPIC\,249893012, a G8\,IV-V evolved star ($M_\star$\,=\,1.05\,$\pm$\,0.05\,$M_\odot$, $R_\star$\,=\,1.71\,$\pm$\,0.04\,$R_\odot$, $T_\mathrm{eff}$\,=5430\,$\pm$\,85\,K). The star is just leaving the main sequence. We combined \ktwo \ photometry with IRCS adaptive-optics imaging and HARPS, HARPS-N, and CARMENES high-precision radial velocity measurements to confirm the planetary system, determine the stellar parameters, and measure radii, masses, and densities of the three planets. With an orbital period of $3.5949^{+0.0007}_{-0.0007}$ days, a mass of $8.75^{+1.09}_{-1.08}\ M_{\oplus}$ , and a radius of $1.95^{+0.09}_{-0.08}\ R_{\oplus}$, the inner planet b is compatible with nickel-iron core and a silicate mantle ($\rho_b= 6.39^{+1.19}_{-1.04}$ g cm$^{-3}$). Planets c and d with orbital periods of $15.624^{+0.001}_{-0.001}$ and $35.747^{+0.005}_{-0.005}$ days, respectively, have masses and radii of $14.67^{+1,84}_{-1.89}\ M_{\oplus}$ and $3.67^{+0.17}_{-0.14}\ R_{\oplus}$ and $10.18^{+2.46}_{-2.42}\ M_{\oplus}$ and $3.94^{+0.13}_{-0.12}\ R_{\oplus}$, respectively, yielding a mean density of $1.62^{+0.30}_{-0.29}$ and $0.91^{+0.25}_{-0.23}$ g cm$^{-3}$, respectively. The radius of planet b lies in the transition region between rocky and gaseous planets, but its density is consistent with a rocky composition. Its semimajor axis and the corresponding photoevaporation levels to which the planet has been exposed might explain its measured density today. In contrast, the densities and semimajor axes of planets c and d suggest a very thick atmosphere. The singularity of this system, which orbits a slightly evolved star that is just leaving the main sequence, makes it a good candidate for a deeper study from a dynamical point of view., Comment: Accepted for publication in A\& A

We report the discovery of TOI 263.01 (TIC 120916706), a transiting substellar object (R = 0.87 RJup) orbiting a faint M3.5~V dwarf (V=18.97) on a 0.56~d orbit. We set out to determine the nature of the TESS planet candidate TOI 263.01 using ground-based multicolour transit photometry. The host star is faint, which makes RV confirmation challenging, but the large transit depth makes the candidate suitable for validation through multicolour photometry. Our analysis combines three transits observed simultaneously in r', i', and z_s bands using the MuSCAT2 multicolour imager, three LCOGT-observed transit light curves in g, r', and i' bands, a TESS light curve from Sector 3, and a low-resolution spectrum for stellar characterisation observed with the ALFOSC spectrograph. We model the light curves with PyTransit using a transit model that includes a physics-based light contamination component that allows us to estimate the contamination from unresolved sources from the multicolour photometry. This allows us to derive the true planet-star radius ratio marginalised over the contamination allowed by the photometry, and, combined with the stellar radius, gives us a reliable estimate of the object's absolute radius. The ground-based photometry excludes contamination from unresolved sources with a significant colour difference to TOI 263. Further, contamination from sources of same stellar type as the host is constrained to levels where the true radius ratio posterior has a median of 0.217. The median radius ratio corresponds to an absolute planet radius of 0.87 RJup, which confirms the substellar nature of the planet candidate. The object is either a giant planet or a brown dwarf (BD) located deep inside the so-called "brown dwarf desert". Both possibilities offer a challenge to current planet/BD formation models and makes 263.01 an object deserving of in-depth follow-up studies., Comment: Accepted to A&A

We report the analysis of additional multiband photometry and spectroscopy and new adaptive optics (AO) imaging of the nearby planetary microlensing event TCP J05074264+2447555 (Kojima-1), which was discovered toward the Galactic anticenter in 2017 (Nucita et al.). We confirm the planetary nature of the light-curve anomaly around the peak while finding no additional planetary feature in this event. We also confirm the presence of apparent blending flux and the absence of significant parallax signal reported in the literature. The AO image reveals no contaminating sources, making it most likely that the blending flux comes from the lens star. The measured multiband lens flux, combined with a constraint from the microlensing model, allows us to narrow down the previously unresolved mass and distance of the lens system. We find that the primary lens is a dwarf on the K/M boundary (0.581 \pm 0.033 M_sun) located at 505 \pm 47 pc and the companion (Kojima-1Lb) is a Neptune-mass planet (20.0 \pm 2.0 M_earth) with a semi-major axis of 1.08 ^{+0.62}_{-0.18} au. This orbit is a few times smaller than those of typical microlensing planets and is comparable to the snow-line location at young ages. We calculate that the a priori detection probability of Kojima-1Lb is only \sim 35%, which may imply that Neptunes are common around the snow line, as recently suggested by the transit and radial velocity techniques. The host star is the brightest among the microlensing planetary systems (Ks = 13.7), offering a great opportunity to spectroscopically characterize this system, even with current facilities., Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, published in Astronomical Journal

We present a detailed analysis of HARPS-N radial velocity observations of K2-100, a young and active star in the Praesepe cluster, which hosts a transiting planet with a period of 1.7 days. We model the activity-induced radial velocity variations of the host star with a multi-dimensional Gaussian Process framework and detect a planetary signal of $10.6 \pm 3.0 {\rm m\,s^{-1}}$, which matches the transit ephemeris, and translates to a planet mass of $21.8 \pm 6.2 M_\oplus$. We perform a suite of validation tests to confirm that our detected signal is genuine. This is the first mass measurement for a transiting planet in a young open cluster. The relatively low density of the planet, $2.04^{+0.66}_{-0.61} {\rm g\,cm^{-3}}$, implies that K2-100b retains a significant volatile envelope. We estimate that the planet is losing its atmosphere at a rate of $10^{11}-10^{12}\,{\rm g\,s^{-1}}$ due to the high level of radiation it receives from its host star., Comment: Accepted for publications in MNRAS

Jupiter Trojan asteroids are minor bodies that share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. Although not yet well understood in origin and composition, they have surface properties that, besides being comparable with other populations of small bodies in the Solar System, hold information that may restrict models of planetary formation. Due their importance, there has been a significant increase in an interest in studying this population. In this context arises the NASA Lucy Mission, with a planned launch of 2021. The Lucy Mission will be the first one to address a group of 6 objects with the aim of investigating, in detail, their nature. In order to provide valuable information for mission planning and maximize the scientific return, we carried out ground based observations of four targets of the mission. Aimed at looking for variabilities on the spectra of (3548) Eurybates, (15094) Polymele and (21900) Orus, we performed rotationally resolved visible spectroscopy of them at SOAR Telescope. We also analyzed the first visible spectrum obtained for the main belt asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson at Gran Telescopio Canarias. The spectra of Orus and Polymele present rather homogeneous characteristics along the surfaces, and their taxa correspond with those of the two dominant populations in the Trojan population, the P- and the D-type group of objects. Spectroscopy of Eurybates, on the other side, suggests that some variation on the characteristics of the reflectance of this body could be related with its collisional history. Donaldjohanson, the only main belt object in the group of targets, shows, according to our visible spectrum, hints of the presence of hydrated materials. Lucy mission will investigate the surface composition of these targets and will shed light on their connections with other minor bodies populations and in their role on the evolution of the Solar System., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

The population of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) shows a large variety of objects in terms of physical and dynamical properties. They are subject to planetary encounters and to strong solar wind and radiation effects. Their study is also motivated by practical reasons regarding space exploration and long-term probability of impact with the Earth. We aim to spectrally characterize a significant sample of NEAs with sizes in the range of $\sim$0.25 - 5.5 km (categorized as large), and search for connections between their spectral types and the orbital parameters. Optical spectra of NEAs were obtained using the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) equipped with the IDS spectrograph. These observations are analyzed using taxonomic classification and by comparison with laboratory spectra of meteorites. A total number of 76 NEAs were observed. We classified 44 of them as Q/S-complex, 16 as B/C-complex, eight as V-types, and another eight belong to the remaining taxonomic classes. Our sample contains 27 asteroids categorized as potentially hazardous and 31 possible targets for space missions including (459872) 2014 EK24, (436724) 2011 UW158, and (67367) 2000 LY27. The spectral data corresponding to (276049) 2002 CE26 and (385186) 1994 AW1 shows the 0.7 $\mu$m feature which indicates the presence of hydrated minerals on their surface. We report that Q-types have the lowest perihelia (a median value and absolute deviation of $0.797\pm0.244$ AU) and are systematically larger than the S-type asteroids observed in our sample. We explain these observational evidences by thermal fatigue fragmentation as the main process for the rejuvenation of NEA surfaces. In general terms, the taxonomic distribution of our sample is similar to the previous studies and matches the broad groups of the inner main belt asteroids. Nevertheless, we found a wide diversity of spectra compared to the standard taxonomic types., Comment: Accepted in Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)

We study the visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectral properties of different ACO populations and compare them to the independently determined properties of comets. We select our ACOs sample based on published dynamical criteria and present our own observational results obtained using the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (WHT), the 3.56m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), and the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT), all located at the El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Spain), and the 3.0m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), located at the Mauna Kea Observatory, in Hawaii. We include in the analysis the spectra of ACOs obtained from the literature. We derive the spectral class and the visible and NIR spectral slopes. We also study the presence of hydrated minerals by studying the 0.7 $\mu$m band and the UV-drop below 0.5 $\mu$m associated with phyllosilicates. We present new observations of 17 ACOs, 11 of them observed in the visible, 2 in the NIR and 4 in the visible and NIR. We also discuss the spectra of 12 ACOs obtained from the literature. All but two ACOs have a primitive-like class spectrum (X or D-type). Almost 100\% of the ACOs in long-period cometary orbits (Damocloids) are D-types. Those in Jupiter family comet orbits (JFC-ACOs) are $\sim$ 60\% D-types and $\sim$ 40\% X-types. The mean spectral slope $S'$ of JFC-ACOs is 9.7 $\pm$ 4.6 \%/1000 \AA \ and for the Damocloids this is 12.2 $\pm$ 2.0 \%/1000 \AA . No evidence of hydration on the surface of ACOs is found from their visible spectra. The slope and spectral class distribution of ACOs is similar to that of comets. The spectral classification, the spectral slope distribution of ACOs, and the lack of spectral features indicative of the presence of hydrated minerals on their surface, strongly suggest that ACOs are likely dormant or extinct comets., Comment: 11 pages, 10 Figures, published in A&A

We report the discovery of two transiting planets orbiting K2-290 (EPIC 249624646), a bright (V=11.11) late F-type star residing in a triple-star system. It was observed during Campaign 15 of the K2 mission, and in order to confirm and characterise the system, follow-up spectroscopy and AO imaging were carried out using the FIES, HARPS, HARPS-N, and IRCS instruments. From AO imaging and Gaia data we identify two M-dwarf companions at a separation of $113 \pm 2$ AU and $2467_{-155}^{+177}$ AU. From radial velocities, K2 photometry, and stellar characterisation of the host star, we find the inner planet to be a mini-Neptune with a radius of $3.06 \pm 0.16 R_{\oplus}$ and an orbital period of $P = 9.2$ days. The radius of the mini-Neptune suggests that the planet is located above the radius valley, and with an incident flux of $F\sim 400 F_{\oplus}$, it lies safely outside the super-Earth desert. The outer warm Jupiter has a mass of $0.774\pm 0.047 M_{\rm J}$ and a radius of $1.006\pm 0.050R_{\rm J}$, and orbits the host star every 48.4 days on an orbit with an eccentricity $e<0.241$. Its mild eccentricity and mini-Neptune sibling suggest that the warm Jupiter originates from in situ formation or disk migration., Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Updated to accepted version (including K2 name)

We report on the confirmation and mass determination of a transiting planet orbiting the old and inactive G7 dwarf star HD219666 (Mstar = 0.92 +/- 0.03 MSun, Rstar = 1.03 +/- 0.03 RSun, tau_star = 10 +/- 2 Gyr). With a mass of Mb = 16.6 +/- 1.3 MEarth, a radius of Rb = 4.71 +/- 0.17 REarth, and an orbital period of P ~ 6 days, HD219666b is a new member of a rare class of exoplanets: the hot-Neptunes. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) observed HD219666 (also known as TOI-118) in its Sector 1 and the light curve shows four transit-like events, equally spaced in time. We confirmed the planetary nature of the candidate by gathering precise radial-velocity measurements with HARPS@ESO3.6m. We used the co-added HARPS spectrum to derive the host star fundamental parameters (Teff = 5527 +/- 65 K, log g = 4.40 +/- 0.11 (cgs), [Fe/H]= 0.04 +/- 0.04 dex, log R'HK = -5.07 +/- 0.03), as well as the abundances of many volatile and refractory elements. The host star brightness (V = 9.9) makes it suitable for further characterisation by means of in-transit spectroscopy. The determination of the planet orbital obliquity, along with the atmospheric metal-to-hydrogen content and thermal structure could provide us with important clues on the formation mechanisms of this class of objects., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

The OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program and is the first U.S. mission to return samples from an asteroid to Earth. The most important decision ahead of the OSIRIS-REx team is the selection of a prime sample-site on the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu. Mission success hinges on identifying a site that is safe and has regolith that can readily be ingested by the spacecraft's sampling mechanism. To inform this mission-critical decision, the surface of Bennu is mapped using the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite and the images are used to develop several foundational data products. Acquiring the necessary inputs to these data products requires observational strategies that are defined specifically to overcome the challenges associated with mapping a small irregular body. We present these strategies in the context of assessing candidate sample-sites at Bennu according to a framework of decisions regarding the relative safety, sampleability, and scientific value across the asteroid's surface. To create data products that aid these assessments, we describe the best practices developed by the OSIRIS-REx team for image-based mapping of irregular small bodies. We emphasize the importance of using 3D shape models and the ability to work in body-fixed rectangular coordinates when dealing with planetary surfaces that cannot be uniquely addressed by body-fixed latitude and longitude., Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

We aim to provide a taxonomic classification for asteroids observed by VISTA-VHS survey. We derive a method for assigning a compositional type to an object based on its (Y-J), (J-Ks), and (H-Ks) colors. We present a taxonomic classification for 18\,265 asteroids from the MOVIS catalog, using a probabilistic method and the k-nearest neighbors algorithm. Because our taxonomy is based only on NIR colors, several classes from Bus-DeMeo were clustered into groups and a slightly different notation was used (i.e. the superscript indicates that the classification was obtained based on the NIR colors and the subscript indicates possible miss-identifications with other types). Our results are compared with the information provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The two algorithms used in this study give a taxonomic type for all objects having at least (Y-J) and (J-Ks) observed colors. A final classification is reported for a set of 6\,496 asteroids based on the criteria that KNN and probabilistic algorithms gave the same result, (Y-J)$_{err}\leq$ 0.118 and (J-Ks)$_{err}\leq$0.136. This set includes 144 bodies classified as $B_k^{ni}$, 613 as $C^{ni}$, 197 as $C_{gx}^{ni}$, 91 as $X_t^{ni}$, 440 as $D_s^{ni}$, 665 as $K_l^{ni}$, 233 as $A_d^{ni}$, 3\,315 as $S^{ni}$, and 798 as $V^{ni}$. We report the albedo distribution for each taxonomic group and we compute new median values for the main types. We found that V-type and A-type candidates have identical size frequency distributions, but the V-types are five times more common than the A-types. Several particular cases, such as the A-type asteroid (11616) 1996 BQ2 and the S-type (3675) Kematsch, both in the Cybele population, are discussed. Files and codes available at: https://github.com/marcelpopescu/MOVIS-Taxonomy, Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)

NASA's OSIRIS-REx and JAXA's Hayabusa2 sample-return missions are currently on their way to encounter primitive near-Earth asteroids (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu, respectively. Spectral and dynamical evidence indicates that these near-Earth asteroids originated in the inner part of the main belt. There are several primitive collisional families in this region, and both these asteroids are most likely to have originated in the Polana-Eulalia family complex. We present the expected spectral characteristics of both targets based on our studies of our primitive collisional families in the inner belt: Polana-Eulalia, Erigone, Sulamitis, and Clarissa. Observations were obtained in the framework of our PRIMitive Asteroids Spectroscopic Survey (PRIMASS). Our results are especially relevant to the planning and interpretation of in-situ images and spectra to be obtained by the two spacecraft during the encounters with their targets., Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Icarus on May 11, 2018

The Cybele and Hilda dynamical groups delimit the outer edge of the asteroid belt. Their compositional distribution is a key element to constrain evolutionary models of the Solar System. In this paper, we present a compositional analysis of these populations using spectroscopic observations, SDSS and NEOWISE data. As part of the PRIMASS (Primitive Asteroids Spectroscopic Survey), we acquired visible spectra of 18 objects in Hilda or Cybele groups with the Goodman High Throughput Spectrometer at the 4.1m SOAR telescope and 20 near-IR spectra of Hilda objects with Near Infrared Camera Spectrograph at the 3.56m TNG. The sample is enlarged with spectra taken from the literature in order to increase our statistical analysis. The spectra were inspected for aqueous alteration bands and other spectral features that can be linked to compositional constraints. The analysis shows a continuous distribution of compositions from the main-belt to the Cybele, Hilda and Trojan regions. We also identify a population in the Trojans group not present in Hilda or Cybele objects., Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures

CASTAway is a mission concept to explore our Solar System's main asteroid belt. Asteroids and comets provide a window into the formation and evolution of our Solar System and the composition of these objects can be inferred from space-based remote sensing using spectroscopic techniques. Variations in composition across the asteroid populations provide a tracer for the dynamical evolution of the Solar System. The mission combines a long-range (point source) telescopic survey of over 10,000 objects, targeted close encounters with 10 to 20 asteroids and serendipitous searches to constrain the distribution of smaller (e.g. 10 m) size objects into a single concept. With a carefully targeted trajectory that loops through the asteroid belt, CASTAway would provide a comprehensive survey of the main belt at multiple scales. The scientific payload comprises a 50 cm diameter telescope that includes an integrated low-resolution (R = 30 to 100) spectrometer and visible context imager, a thermal (e.g. 6 to 16 microns) imager for use during the flybys, and modified star tracker cameras to detect small (approx. 10 m) asteroids. The CASTAway spacecraft and payload have high levels of technology readiness and are designed to fit within the programmatic and cost caps for a European Space Agency medium class mission, whilst delivering a significant increase in knowledge of our Solar System., Comment: 40 pages, accepted by Advances in Space Research October 2017

In recent years there have appeared in the literature a large number of static, spherically symmetric metrics, which are regular at the origin, asymptotically flat, and have both an event and a Cauchy horizon for certain range of the parameters. They have been interpreted as regular black hole (BH) spacetimes, and their physical source attributed to electric or magnetic monopoles in a suitable chosen nonlinear electrodynamics. Here we show that these metrics can also be interpreted as exact solutions of the Einstein equations coupled to ordinary linear electromagnetism{\textemdash}i.e., as sources of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om (RN) spacetime{\textemdash}provided the components of the effective energy-momentum tensor satisfy the dominant energy condition (DEC). We use some well-known regular BH metrics to construct nonsingular RN black holes, where the singularity at the RN center is replaced by a regular perfect fluid charged sphere (whose charge-to-mass ratio is not greater than $1$) which is inside the RN inner horizon.

We present a summary of the campaign of remote observations that supported the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. Telescopes across the globe (and in space) followed comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from before Rosetta's arrival until nearly the end of mission in September 2016. These provided essential data for mission planning, large-scale context information for the coma and tails beyond the spacecraft, and a way to directly compare 67P with other comets. The observations revealed 67P to be a relatively `well behaved' comet, typical of Jupiter family comets and with activity patterns that repeat from orbit-to-orbit. Comparison between this large collection of telescopic observations and the in situ results from Rosetta will allow us to better understand comet coma chemistry and structure. This work is just beginning as the mission ends -- in this paper we present a summary of the ground-based observations and early results, and point to many questions that will be addressed in future studies., Comment: Author prepared version; final published version available at journal. 22 pages

Basaltic asteroids (V-types) are believed to be fragments of large differentiated bodies. The majority of them are found in the inner part of the asteroid belt, and are current or past members of the Vesta family. Recently, some V-type asteroids have been discovered far from the Vesta family supporting the hypothesis of the presence of multiple basaltic asteroids in the early solar system. The discovery of basaltic asteroids in the outer belt challenged the models of the radial extent and the variability of the temperature distribution in the early solar system. We aim to identify new basaltic V-type asteroids using near-infrared colors of ~40000 asteroids observed by the VHS-VISTA survey and compiled in the MOVIS-C catalogue. We also want to study their near-infrared colors and to study the near-infrared color distribution of the Vesta dynamical family. We performed a search in the MOVIS-C catalogue of all the asteroids with (Y-J) and (J-Ks) in the range (Y-J) > 0.5 and (J-Ks) < 0.3, associated with V-type asteroids, and studied their color distribution. We have also analyzed the near-infrared color distribution of 273 asteroid members of the Vesta family and compared them with the albedo and visible colors from WISE and SDSS data. We determined the fraction of V-type asteroids in the family. We found 477 V-type candidates in MOVIS-C, 244 of them outside the Vesta dynamical family. We identified 19 V-type asteroids beyond the 3:1 mean motion resonance, 6 of them in the outer main belt, and 16 V-types in the inner main belt with proper inclination i_p < 3.0deg, well below the inclination of the Vesta family. We computed that ~85% of the members of the Vesta dynamical family are V-type asteroids, and only 1-2% are primitive class asteroids and unlikely members of the family. This work almost doubles the sample of basaltic asteroid candidates in regions outside the Vesta family., Comment: In press in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 9 pages, 9 figures

The existence of significant anisotropies in the distributions of the directions of perihelia and orbital poles of the known extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) has been used to claim that trans-Plutonian planets may exist. Among the known ETNOs, the pair (474640) 2004 VN112-2013 RF98 stands out. Their orbital poles and the directions of their perihelia and their velocities at perihelion/aphelion are separated by a few degrees, but orbital similarity does not necessarily imply common physical origin. In an attempt to unravel their physical nature, visible spectroscopy of both targets was obtained using the OSIRIS camera-spectrograph at the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). From the spectral analysis, we find that 474640-2013 RF98 have similar spectral slopes (12 vs. 15 %/0.1um), very different from Sedna's but compatible with those of (148209) 2000 CR105 and 2012 VP113. These five ETNOs belong to the group of seven linked to the Planet Nine hypothesis. A dynamical pathway consistent with these findings is dissociation of a binary asteroid during a close encounter with a planet and we confirm its plausibility using N-body simulations. We thus conclude that both the dynamical and spectroscopic properties of 474640-2013 RF98 favour a genetic link and their current orbits suggest that the pair was kicked by a perturber near aphelion., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 1+3 tables. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) provide information about the surface composition of about 100,000 minor planets. The resulting visible colors and albedos enabled us to group them in several major classes, which are a simplified view of the diversity shown by the few existing spectra. We performed a serendipitous search in VISTA-VHS observations using a pipeline developed to retrieve and process the data that corresponds to solar system objects (SSo). The colors and the magnitudes of the minor planets observed by the VISTA survey are compiled into three catalogs that are available online: the detections catalog (MOVIS-D), the magnitudes catalog (MOVIS-M), and the colors catalog (MOVIS-C). They were built using the third data release of the survey (VISTA VHS-DR3). A total of 39,947 objects were detected, including 52 NEAs, 325 Mars Crossers, 515 Hungaria asteroids, 38,428 main-belt asteroids, 146 Cybele asteroids, 147 Hilda asteroids, 270 Trojans, 13 comets, 12 Kuiper Belt objects and Neptune with its four satellites. The colors found for asteroids with known spectral properties reveal well-defined patterns corresponding to different mineralogies. The distributions of MOVIS-C data in color-color plots shows clusters identified with different taxonomic types. All the diagrams that use (Y-J) color separate the spectral classes more effectively than the (J-H) and (H-Ks) plots used until now: even for large color errors (<0.1), the plots (Y-J) vs (Y-Ks) and (Y-J) vs (J-Ks) provide the separation between S-complex and C-complex. The end members A, D, R, and V-types occupy well-defined regions., Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures

We present a systematic approach to embed $n$-dimensional vacuum general relativity in an $(n + 1)$-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian spacetime whose source is either a (non)zero cosmological constant or a scalar field minimally-coupled to Einstein gravity. Our approach allows us to generalize a number of results discussed in the literature. We construct {\it all} the possible (physically distinct) embeddings in Einstein spaces, including the Ricci-flat ones widely discussed in the literature. We examine in detail their generalization, which - in the framework under consideration - are higher-dimensional spacetimes sourced by a scalar field with flat (constant $\neq 0$) potential. We use the Kretschmann curvature scalar to show that many embedding spaces have a physical singularity at some finite value of the extra coordinate. We develop several classes of embeddings that are free of singularities, have distinct non-vanishing self-interacting potentials and are continuously connected (in various limits) to Einstein embeddings. We point out that the induced metric possesses scaling symmetry and, as a consequence, the effective physical parameters (e.g., mass, angular momentum, cosmological constant) can be interpreted as functions of the extra coordinate., Comment: Accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravity

Near-Earth binary asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3 is the current backup target of the ESA MarcoPolo-R mission, selected for the study phase of ESA M3 missions. It is a primitive (C-type) asteroid that shows significant variation in its visible and near-infrared spectra. Here we present new spectra of 1996 FG3 and we compare our new data with other published spectra, analysing the variation in the spectral slope. The asteroid will not be observable again over the next three years at least. We obtained the spectra using DOLORES and NICS instruments at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), a 3.6m telescope located at El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma, Spain. To compare with other published spectra of the asteroid, we computed the spectral slope S', and studied any plausible correlation of this quantity with the phase angle (alpha). In the case of visible spectra, we find a variation in spectral slope of Delta S' = 0.15 +- 0.10 %/10^3 A/degree for 3 < alpha < 18 degrees, in good agreement with the values found in the literature for the phase reddening effect. In the case of the near-infrared, we find a variation in the slope of Delta S' = 0.04 +- 0.08 %/10^3 A/degree for 6 < alpha < 51 degrees. Our computed variation in S' agrees with the only two values found in the literature for the phase reddening in the near-infrared. The variation in the spectral slope of asteroid 1996 FG3 shows a trend with the phase angle at the time of the observations, both in the visible and the near-infrared. It is worth noting that, to fully explain this spectral variability we should take into account other factors, like the position of the secondary component of the binary asteroid 1999 FG3 with respect to the primary, or the spin axis orientation at the time of the observations. More data are necessary for an analysis of this kind., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Accepted in A&A 25 June 2013

Near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 made its closest approach on February 15, 2013, when it passed at a distance of 27,700 km from the Earth's surface. It was the first time an asteroid of moderate size was predicted to approach that close to the Earth, becoming bright enough to permit a detailed study from ground-based telescopes. Asteroid 2012 DA14 was poorly characterized before its closest approach. We acquired data using several telescopes on four Spanish observatories: the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the 3.6m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), both in the El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM, La Palma); the 2.2m CAHA telescope, in the Calar Alto Observatory (Almeria); the f/3 0.77m telescope in the La Hita Observatory (Toledo); and the f/8 1.5m telescope in the Sierra Nevada Observatory (OSN, Granada). We obtained visible and near-infrared color photometry, visible spectra and time-series photometry. Visible spectra together with color photometry of 2012 DA14 show that it can be classified as an L-type asteroid, a rare spectral type with a composition similar to that of carbonaceous chondrites. The time-series photometry provides a rotational period of 8.95 +- 0.08 hours after the closest approach, and there are indications that the object suffered a spin-up during this event. The large amplitude of the light curve suggests that the object is very elongated and irregular, with an equivalent diameter of around 18m. We obtain an absolute magnitude of H_R = 24.5 +- 0.2, corresponding to H_V = 25.0 +- 0.2. The GTC photometry also gives H_V = 25.29 +- 0.14. Both values agree with the value listed at the Minor Planet Center shortly after discovery. From the absolute photometry, together with some constraints on size and shape, we compute a geometric albedo of p_V = 0.44 +- 0.20, which is slightly above the range of albedos known for L-type asteroids (0.082 - 0.405)., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted in A&A (June 17 2013)

We aim to study the dust ejected by main-belt comet (MBC) (300163) 2006 VW139 to obtain information on the ejection mechanism and the spectral properties of the object, to see if they are compatible with those of "normal" comets. Images in the g and r band and a low-resolution spectrum in the 0.35-0.9 micron region were obtained with the GTC telescope (La Palma, Spain). Images were analyzed to produce a color map and derive a lower limit of the absolute magnitude. A Monte Carlo (MC) scattering model was used to derive dust properties such as mass loss rates and ejection velocities as a function of time. The spectrum was compared to that of MBC 133P/Elst-Pizarro and used to search for CN emission. The spectrum of 2006 VW139 is typical of a C-class asteroid, with a spectral slope S=0.5+/-1.0%/1000A. It is similar to the spectrum of 133P and other MBCs. No CN emission is detected. A CN production rate upper limit of 3.76e23 1/s is derived. The MBC present a narrow almost linear tail that extends up to 40.000 km in the anti-solar direction and more than 80.000 km in the direction of the object's orbital plane. The color of the tail is slightly redder than the Sun (S=3 to 6%/1000A). The MC dust tail model derived the mass loss rates and ejection velocity as a function of time, and the results show that the activity onset occurs shortly after perihelion, and lasts about 100 days; the total ejected mass is about 2e6 kg. The spectrum of VW139 suggests that it is not a "normal" comet. It is typical of the other observed MBCs. Even if no CN emission is detected, the more likely activation mechanism is water-ice sublimation. Like other well studied MBCs, VW139 is likely a primitive C-class asteroid that has a water-ice subsurface depth reservoir that has recently been exposed to sunlight or to temperatures that produce enough heat to sublime the ice., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication Astronomy & Astrophysics 2012

We construct a cosmological model which is physically reasonable, mathematically tractable, and extends the study of CDM models to the case where the equations of state (EoS) for matter and dark energy (DE) vary with time. It is based on the assumptions of (i) flatness, (ii) validity of general relativity, (iii) the presence of a DE component that varies between two asymptotic values, (iv) the matter of the universe smoothly evolves from an initial radiation stage - or a barotropic perfect fluid - to a phase where it behaves as cosmological dust at late times. The model approximates the CDM ones for small $z$ but significantly differ from them for large $z$. We focus our attention on how the evolving EoS for matter and DE can modify the CDM paradigm. We discuss a number of physical scenarios. One of them includes, as a particular case, the so-called generalized Chaplygin gas models where DE evolves from non-relativistic dust. Another kind of models shows that the current accelerated expansion is compatible with a DE that behaves like pressureless dust at late times. We also find that a universe with variable DE can go from decelerated to accelerated expansion, and vice versa, several times.

We present the visible spectrum of MBCs 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR, as well as three Themis family asteroids: (62) Erato, (379), Huenna and (383) Janina, obtained in 2007 using three telescopes at "El Roque de los Muchachos"' Observatory, in La Palma, Spain, and the 8m Kueyen (UT2) VLT telescope at Cerro Paranal, Chile. The spectra of 133P and 176P resemble best those of B-type asteroid and are very similar to those of Themis family members and are significantly different from the spectrum of comet 162P/Siding-Spring and most of the observed cometary nuclei. CN gas emission is not detected in the spectrum of 133P. We determine an upper limit for the CN production rate Q(CN) = $= 2.8 \times 10^{21}$ mol/s, three orders of magnitude lower than the Q(CN) of Jupiter family comets observed at similar heliocentric distances. The spectra of 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR confirm that they are likely members of the Themis family of asteroids, fragments that probably retained volatiles, and unlikely have a cometary origin in the trans-neptunian belt or the Oort cloud., Comment: Paper sumbmited to A&A. 7 pages and 6 figures

In this work we examine the effective four-dimensional world that emanates from a general class of static spherical Ricci-flat solutions in Kaluza-Klein gravity in $D$-dimensions. By means of dimensional reduction we obtain a family of asymptotically flat Schwarzschild-like metrics for which all the components of the Ricci tensor, except for $R_{11}$, are zero. Although the reduced spacetime is not empty, it is similar to vacuum in the sense that the effective matter satisfies an equation of state which is the generalization of $(\rho + 3p) = 0$ for "nongravitating matter" in 4D. In Kaluza-Klein gravity these Schwarzschild-like metrics describe the exterior of a spherical star without rotation. In this framework, we generalize the well-known Buchdahl's theorem for perfect fluid spheres whose mass density does not increase outward. Without any additional assumptions, we develop the most general expression for the compactness limit of a star. We provide some numerical values for it, which in principle are observationally testable and allow us to compare and contrast different theories and exteriors. We find that in Kaluza-Klein gravity the compactness limit of a star can be larger than 1/2, without being a black hole: the general-relativistic upper limit $M/R < 4/9$ is increased as we go away from the Schwarzschild vacuum exterior. We show how this limit depends on the number of dimensions of spacetime, and demonstrate that the effects of gravity are stronger in 4D than in any other number of dimensions.

We show that Brans-Dicke (BD) theory in 5D may explain the present cosmic accelerated expansion without recurring to matter fields in 5D or dark energy in 4D. Without making any assumption on the nature of the extra coordinate or the matter content in 5D, here we demonstrate that the vacuum BD field equations in 5D are equivalent, on every hypersurface orthogonal to the extra dimension, to a BD theory in 4D with a self interacting potential and an effective matter field. The potential is not introduced by hand, instead the reduction procedure provides an expression that determines its shape up to a constant of integration. It also establishes the explicit formulae for the effective matter in 4D. In the context of FRW cosmologies, we show that the reduced BD theory gives rise to models for accelerated expansion of a matter-dominated universe which are consistent with current observations and with a decelerating radiation-dominated epoch., Comment: A typo in equation (4) is fixed. Accepted for publication in J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. (JCAP)