A TESS Disappearing Act: The Vanishing Transits of TOI-2535 b

@article{yee2026tess,
  title = {{A TESS Disappearing Act: The Vanishing Transits of TOI-2535 b}},
  author = {Samuel W. Yee and Erik A. Petigura and Rafael Brahm and Karen A. Collins and Gregor Srdoc and David W. Latham and Allyson Bieryla and Victoria DiTomasso and Thomas Henning and Andrés Jordán and Trifon Trifonov and Khalid Barkaoui and Phil Evans and Emmanuel Jehin and Mourad Ghachoui and Michaël Gillon and Eric Girardin and Felipe Murgas and Enric Palle and Adam Popowicz and Don J. Radford and Howard M. Relles and Richard P. Schwarz and Avi Shporer and Abderahmane Soubkiou and David Watanabe and Francis P. Wilkin and Carl Ziegler},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal Letters},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aeb4a4},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb4a4},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - A TESS Disappearing Act: The Vanishing Transits of TOI-2535 b
AU  - Samuel W. Yee
AU  - Erik A. Petigura
AU  - Rafael Brahm
AU  - Karen A. Collins
AU  - Gregor Srdoc
AU  - David W. Latham
AU  - Allyson Bieryla
AU  - Victoria DiTomasso
AU  - Thomas Henning
AU  - Andrés Jordán
AU  - Trifon Trifonov
AU  - Khalid Barkaoui
AU  - Phil Evans
AU  - Emmanuel Jehin
AU  - Mourad Ghachoui
AU  - Michaël Gillon
AU  - Eric Girardin
AU  - Felipe Murgas
AU  - Enric Palle
AU  - Adam Popowicz
AU  - Don J. Radford
AU  - Howard M. Relles
AU  - Richard P. Schwarz
AU  - Avi Shporer
AU  - Abderahmane Soubkiou
AU  - David Watanabe
AU  - Francis P. Wilkin
AU  - Carl Ziegler
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/09
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal Letters
DO  - 10.3847/2041-8213/aeb4a4
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb4a4
AB  - Planetary transits require a fortuitous alignment between a planet’s orbit and our line of sight, but dynamical interactions can render this geometric coincidence only temporary. We report the discovery of the hot Jupiter TOI-2535b, the first confirmed planet orbiting a single star whose transits have been directly observed to disappear. Over 7 yr of photometry from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the planet’s transit chord traversed and eventually moved off the stellar disk entirely, with an impact parameter changing at the rate of b ̇ = 0.16 yr − 1 . The transit midtimes also show significant departures of ±6 hr from a linear ephemeris. Joint modeling of the transit timing and duration variations (TTVs and TDVs) and NEID radial-velocity data indicates the presence of a nearby, mutually inclined ( i mut ≳ 5 ∘ ) planetary perturber, with the TDV being primarily due to precession of the planets’ orbital planes. Our dynamical modeling reveals that the perturber is likely of Saturn-mass or greater and in a mean-motion resonance with TOI-2535b, making this an unusual system that contains two short-period giant planets. The TDVs measured for TOI-2535b represent one of the most extreme examples of planet–planet interactions driving orbital evolution on human timescales.
SN  - 2041-8213
SN  - 2041-8205
ER  -