A Hot Saturn Near (but Unassociated with) the Open Cluster NGC 1817

Abstract

We report on the discovery of a hot Saturn-sized planet (9.916 ± 0.985  R ⊕ ) around a late F-star, K2-308, observed in Campaign 13 of the K2 mission. We began studying this planet candidate because prior to the release of Gaia DR2, the host star was thought to have been a member ( membership probability) of the open cluster NGC 1817 based on its kinematics and photometric distance. We identify the host star (among three stars within the K2 photometric aperture) using seeing-limited photometry and rule out false-positive scenarios using adaptive optics imaging and radial velocity observations. We statistically validate K2-308b by calculating a false-positive probability rate of . However, we also show using new kinematic measurements provided by Gaia DR2 and our measured radial velocity of the system that K2-308 is unassociated with the cluster NGC 1817. Therefore, the long running search for a giant transiting planet in an open cluster remains fruitless. Finally, we note that our use of seeing-limited photometry is a good demonstration of similar techniques that are already being used to follow up Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ( TESS ) planet candidates, especially in crowded regions.