An Infant Sub-Saturn in Scorpius-Centaurus
Abstract
We report the discovery and validation of TIC 88297141 Ab, a transiting planet orbiting a pre-main-sequence M dwarf (0.31 solar masses, 0.74 solar radii) in the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association. Group membership implies an age of 15.6 ± 1.6 Myr, supported by lithium and isochrone age-dating. We detected the TESS transits using a custom pipeline designed for variable stars and used ground-based photometry (LCO/Swope and LCOGT/Sinistro) to confirm the on-target nature of the signal. Our global fit of the transits and stellar activity gives an orbital period of 4.64 days and a planet radius of 7.21 ± 0.32 Earth radii (0.64 Jupiter radii). The star has a comoving M-dwarf companion (0.4 solar radii) at a projected separation of $260$ au; speckle imaging (Gemini-S/Zorro) reveals no additional stellar companions, and radial velocities from Magellan/PFS are consistent with stellar activity, giving Mp sin i < 4.7 Jupiter masses at 2σ. A statistical validation analysis yields a false positive probability of 10−5, validating the planet. A mass measurement will determine whether TIC 88297141 Ab is a low-density super-puff, like other comparably sized planets at these ages, or an unusually massive planet for its radius.
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BibTeX
@misc{kathuria2026infant,
title = {{An Infant Sub-Saturn in Scorpius-Centaurus}},
author = {Gurmeher Kathuria and Luke G. Bouma and Andrew W. Boyle and Roberto Tejada Arevalo and Andrew W. Mann and Nidia Morrell and Karen A. Collins and R. Paul Butler and Stephen A. Shectman and Johanna Teske and Jeffrey D. Crane and Shreyas Vissapragada and Madeleine Mckenzie and Khalid Barkaoui and Norio Narita and Akihiko Fukui and Jerome P. De Leon and Toshi Suganuma and Madyson G. Barber and Francis P. Wilkin and Victoria Zaledonis and Sophia Garcia-Gallet and Glauk Hizmo and Steve B. Howell and David R. Ciardi and Colin Littlefield and Sarah Deveny and Douglas A. Caldwell},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.38315},
eprint = {2609.38315},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38315},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - An Infant Sub-Saturn in Scorpius-Centaurus
AU - Gurmeher Kathuria
AU - Luke G. Bouma
AU - Andrew W. Boyle
AU - Roberto Tejada Arevalo
AU - Andrew W. Mann
AU - Nidia Morrell
AU - Karen A. Collins
AU - R. Paul Butler
AU - Stephen A. Shectman
AU - Johanna Teske
AU - Jeffrey D. Crane
AU - Shreyas Vissapragada
AU - Madeleine Mckenzie
AU - Khalid Barkaoui
AU - Norio Narita
AU - Akihiko Fukui
AU - Jerome P. De Leon
AU - Toshi Suganuma
AU - Madyson G. Barber
AU - Francis P. Wilkin
AU - Victoria Zaledonis
AU - Sophia Garcia-Gallet
AU - Glauk Hizmo
AU - Steve B. Howell
AU - David R. Ciardi
AU - Colin Littlefield
AU - Sarah Deveny
AU - Douglas A. Caldwell
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.38315
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38315
AB - We report the discovery and validation of TIC 88297141 Ab, a transiting planet orbiting a pre-main-sequence M dwarf (0.31 solar masses, 0.74 solar radii) in the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association. Group membership implies an age of 15.6 ± 1.6 Myr, supported by lithium and isochrone age-dating. We detected the TESS transits using a custom pipeline designed for variable stars and used ground-based photometry (LCO/Swope and LCOGT/Sinistro) to confirm the on-target nature of the signal. Our global fit of the transits and stellar activity gives an orbital period of 4.64 days and a planet radius of 7.21 ± 0.32 Earth radii (0.64 Jupiter radii). The star has a comoving M-dwarf companion (0.4 solar radii) at a projected separation of $260$ au; speckle imaging (Gemini-S/Zorro) reveals no additional stellar companions, and radial velocities from Magellan/PFS are consistent with stellar activity, giving M_p sin i < 4.7 Jupiter masses at 2σ. A statistical validation analysis yields a false positive probability of 10^−5, validating the planet. A mass measurement will determine whether TIC 88297141 Ab is a low-density super-puff, like other comparably sized planets at these ages, or an unusually massive planet for its radius.
ER -