Looking for Giant Earths in the HD 209458 System: A Search for Transits in MOST Space‐based Photometry

Abstract

We have made a comprehensive transit search for exoplanets down to about 2 Earth radii in the HD 209458 system, based on nearly uninterrupted broadband optical photometry obtained with the MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars) satellite, spanning 14 days in 2004 and 44 days in 2005. We have searched these data for limb-darkened transits at periods other than that of the known giant planet, from about 0.5 days to 2 weeks. Monte Carlo statistical tests of the data with synthetic transits inserted allow us to rule out additional close-in exoplanets with sizes ranging from about 0.20-0.36 RJ (Jupiter radii), or 2.2-4.0 R⊕ (Earth radii) on orbits whose planes are near that of HD 209458b. These null results constrain theories that invoke lower mass planets in orbits similar to HD 209458b to explain its anomalously large radius, and those that predict ``hot Earths'' due to the inward migration of HD 209458b. Based on data from the MOST satellite, a Canadian Space Agency mission, jointly operated by Dynacon, Inc., the University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies, and the University of British Columbia, with the assistance of the University of Vienna.