Starspots and spin-orbit alignment in the WASP-4 exoplanetary system

Abstract

We present the photometric analysis of 4 transits of the exoplanet WASP-4b, obtained with the Baade 6.5m telescope, one of the two Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas. The light curves have a photometric precision of 0.5 mmag and a time sampling of 30s. This high precision has allowed us to detect several "spot anomalies": temporary brightenings due to the occultation of a starspot on the transit chord. By analyzing these anomalies we find the sky-projected stellar obliquity to be λ = 1°+12°-14°. The small value suggests that the planet migration mechanism preserved the initially low obliquity, or that tidal evolution has realigned the system. © 2011 International Astronomical Union.