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M dwarfs have become increasingly important in the detection of exoplanets and the study of Earth-sized planets and their habitability. However, 20%–30% of M dwarfs have companions that can impact the formation and evolution of planetary systems. We use high-resolution imaging and Gaia astrometry to detect stellar companions around M dwarf exoplanet hosts discovered by TESS and determine the projected separation and estimated stellar masses for each system. We find 47 companions around 216 M dwarfs and a multiplicity rate of 19.4% ± 2.7% that is consistent with field M dwarfs. The binary projected separation distribution is shifted to larger separations, confirming the lack of close binaries hosting transiting exoplanets seen in previous studies. We correct the radii of planets with nearby companions and examine the properties of planets in M dwarf multistar systems. We also note three multiplanet systems that occur in close binaries (≲50 au) where planet formation is expected to be suppressed.

The NASA TESS mission has discovered many transiting planets orbiting bright nearby stars, and high-resolution imaging studies have revealed that a number of these exoplanet hosts reside in binary or multiple star systems. In such systems, transit observations alone cannot determine which star in the binary system actually hosts the orbiting planet. The knowledge of which star the planet orbits is necessary for determining accurate physical properties for the planet, especially its true radius and mean bulk density. We derived the mean stellar densities for the components of 23 binary systems using the light curve transit shape and the binary flux ratio from speckle imaging, then tested the consistency with stellar models to determine which component is the host star. We found that 70% of the TESS transiting planets in our sample orbit the primary star.

Discordances in radial-velocity measurements of 73 Leonis, made more than a century ago, gave rise to the first suggestion that this fifth-magnitude star was a binary system, but it was 40 yr before an accurate investigation of the object commenced, and a further 25 yr (close to three orbital cycles) before R. F. Griffin’s new velocities, combined with older ones, yielded a high-quality orbit. However, a few years earlier the system had been resolved astrometrically by speckle interferometry, so a combined solution was attempted that yielded a very precise period (σ ∼ 0.1%P, primarily on the strength of the precision of the radial-velocities), with a less-well determined semimajor axis (σ ∼ 2.4%a″). Nonetheless 73 Leo continued to present a challenge to astrometric and photometric techniques alike, and also to spectroscopic classification and stellar-evolution theory. Now, with the superior resolution capability of the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer and new radial-velocity data from the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory high-resolution spectrograph, those uncertainties have been reduced to 0.02% in P and 0.15% in a″. This paper describes the new data acquired since 1997, and reports our new attempts to parameterize the system (including the spectral type of the secondary) by appealing to very recent photometry. Notwithstanding, direct spectroscopic evidence of the secondary component is little more than suggestive, so a complete SB2 solution yielding an orbital parallax and limits to the masses of the component stars remains elusive.

Roughly half of Solar-type planet hosts have stellar companions, so understanding how these binary companions affect the formation and evolution of planets is an important component to understanding planetary systems overall. Measuring the dynamical properties of planet host binaries enables a valuable test of planet formation in multistar systems and requires knowledge of the binary orbital parameters. Using high-resolution imaging, we have measured the relative astrometry and visual orbits of 13 binary systems where one of the stars is known to host a transiting exoplanet. Our results indicate that the mutual inclination between the orbits of the binary hosts and the transiting planets are well aligned. Our results for close binary systems (a < 100 au) complement past work for wide planet host binaries from Gaia.

The large number of exoplanets discovered with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) means that any observational biases from TESS could influence the derived stellar multiplicity statistics of exoplanet host stars. To investigate this problem, we obtained speckle interferometry of 207 control stars whose properties in the TESS Input Catalog (TIC) closely match those of an exoplanetary host star in the TESS Object of Interest (TOI) catalog, with the objective of measuring the fraction of these stars that have companions within ∼1.″2. Our main result is the identification of a bias in the creation of the control sample that prevents the selection of binaries with 0.″1 ≲ ρ ≲ 1.″2 and Δmag ≲3. This bias is the result of large astrometric residuals that cause binaries with these parameters to fail the quality checks used to create the TIC, which in turn causes them to have incomplete stellar parameters (and uncertainties) in the TIC. Any stellar multiplicity study that relies exclusively upon TIC stellar parameters to identify its targets will struggle to select unresolved binaries in this parameter space. Left uncorrected, this selection bias disproportionately excludes high-mass-ratio binaries, causing the mass-ratio distribution of the companions to deviate significantly from the uniform distribution expected of FGK-type field binaries. After accounting for this bias, the companion rate of the FGK control stars is consistent with the canonical 46% ± 2% rate from Raghavan et al., and the mass-ratio distribution agrees with that of binary TOI host stars. There is marginal evidence that the control-star companions have smaller projected orbital separations than TOI host stars from previous studies.

One of the key goals of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is to directly image about 25 potentially habitable exoplanets and determine their properties. This challenge will require a large survey of nearby, bright stars: ∼100 according to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. To ensure the success of the mission and to help guide design decisions, the stellar multiplicity of the target stars must be well-understood. To this end, we present optical speckle imaging of stars in the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program provisional HWO star list, which is currently the Tier 1 target list for the HWO Target Stars and Systems Sub-Working Group. We obtained new observations using ‘Alopeke and Zorro at Gemini Observatory and queried the Exoplanet Follow-up Observing Program Archive for archival observations, resulting in speckle imaging data for 80 of the 164 stars. We confirmed one candidate companion detected previously by Gaia (HD 90089) and obtained an ambiguous detection of a known companion (HD 212330). To examine our sensitivity to companions, we simulated stellar companions down to ∼0.1 M⊙ for each target and found that 75%–85% would be detected in our speckle images; the remaining simulated companions are either too faint or too close-in, and will require follow-up using other methods such as long-term spectroscopic measurements and space-based techniques. This work represents a first step toward surveying potential HWO targets for close-in stellar companions and helping to inform the target selection process for the HWO direct-imaging survey, bringing us closer toward the discovery of potential habitable worlds.

Using the EVEREST photometry pipeline, we have identified 74 candidate ultra-short-period planets (USPs; orbital period P < 1 day) in the first half of the K2 data (Campaigns 0–8 and 10). Of these, 33 candidates have not previously been reported. A systematic search for additional transiting planets found 13 new multiplanet systems containing a USP, doubling the number known and representing a third (32%) of USPs in our sample from K2. We also identified 30 companions, which have periods from 1.4 to 31 days (median 5.5 days). A third (36 of 104) of the candidate USPs and companions have been statistically validated or confirmed in this work, 10 for the first time, including 7 USPs. Almost all candidates, and all validated planets, are small (radii R p ≤ 3 R ⊕) with a median radius of R p = 1.1 R ⊕; the validated and confirmed USP candidates have radii between 0.4 R ⊕ and 2.4 R ⊕ and periods from P = 0.18 to 0.96 days. The lack of candidate (a) ultra-hot-Jupiter (R p > 10 R ⊕) and (b) short-period-desert (3 ≤ R p ≤ 10 R ⊕) planets suggests that both populations are rare, although our survey may have missed some of the very deepest transits. These results also provide strong evidence that we have not reached a lower limit on the distribution of planetary radius values for planets at close proximity to a star and suggest that additional improvements in photometry techniques would yield yet more USPs. The large fraction of USPs in known multiplanet systems supports origins models that involve dynamical interactions with exterior planets coupled to tidal decay of the USP orbits.

δ Scuti stars are generally fast rotators and their pulsations are not in the asymptotic regime, so the interpretation of their pulsation spectra is a very difficult task. Binary stars, especially eclipsing systems, offer us the opportunity to constrain the space of fundamental stellar parameters. Firstly, we show the results of KIC9851944 and KIC4851217 as two case studies. We found the signature of the large frequency separation in the pulsational spectrum of both stars. The observed mean stellar density and the large frequency separation obey the linear relation in the log-log space as found by Suarez et al. (2014) and García Hernández et al. (2015). Second, we apply the simple ‘one-layer model’ of Moreno & Koenigsberger (1999) to the prototype heartbeat star KOI-54. The model naturally reproduces the tidally induced high frequency oscillations and their frequencies are very close to the observed frequency at 90 and 91 times the orbital frequency.

Planets with radii between that of the Earth and Neptune (hereafter referred to as ‘sub-Neptunes’) are found in close-in orbits around more than half of all Sun-like stars 1 , 2 . However, their composition, formation and evolution remain poorly understood 3 . The study of multiplanetary systems offers an opportunity to investigate the outcomes of planet formation and evolution while controlling for initial conditions and environment. Those in resonance (with their orbital periods related by a ratio of small integers) are particularly valuable because they imply a system architecture practically unchanged since its birth. Here we present the observations of six transiting planets around the bright nearby star HD 110067. We find that the planets follow a chain of resonant orbits. A dynamical study of the innermost planet triplet allowed the prediction and later confirmation of the orbits of the rest of the planets in the system. The six planets are found to be sub-Neptunes with radii ranging from 1.94 R ⊕ to 2.85 R ⊕ . Three of the planets have measured masses, yielding low bulk densities that suggest the presence of large hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. Observations of six transiting planets around the bright nearby star HD 110067 show that they follow a chain of resonant orbits, with three of the planets inferring the presence of large hydrogen-dominated atmospheres.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered hundreds of new worlds, with TESS planet candidates now outnumbering the total number of confirmed planets from Kepler. Owing to differences in survey design, TESS continues to provide planets that are better suited for subsequent follow-up studies, including mass measurement through radial velocity (RV) observations, compared to Kepler targets. In this work, we present the TESS-Keck Survey’s (TKS) Mass Catalog: a uniform analysis of all TKS RV survey data that has resulted in mass constraints for 126 planets and candidate signals. This includes 58 mass measurements that have reached ≥5σ precision. We confirm or validate 32 new planets from the TESS mission either by significant mass measurement (15) or statistical validation (17), and we find no evidence of likely false positives among our entire sample. This work also serves as a data release for all previously unpublished TKS survey data, including 9,204 RV measurements and associated activity indicators over our three-year survey. We took the opportunity to assess the performance of our survey and found that we achieved many of our goals, including measuring the mass of 38 small (<4 R ⊕) planets, nearly achieving the TESS mission’s basic science requirement. In addition, we evaluated the performance of the Automated Planet Finder as survey support and observed meaningful constraints on system parameters, due to its more uniform phase coverage. Finally, we compared our measured masses to those predicted by commonly used mass–radius relations and investigated evidence of systematic bias.