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A high mutual inclination system around KOI-134 revealed by transit timing variations

Nabbie, Emma ; Huang, Chelsea X. ; Korth, Judith LU ; Parviainen, Hannu ; Wang, Su ; Venner, Alexander ; Wittenmyer, Robert ; Bieryla, Allyson ; Latham, David W. and Li, Gongjie , et al. (2025) In Nature Astronomy 9(9). p.1317-1325
Abstract

Few planetary systems have measured mutual inclinations, and even fewer are found to be non-coplanar. Observing the gravitational interactions between exoplanets is an effective tool to detect non-transiting companions to transiting planets. Evidence of these interactions can manifest in the light curve through transit timing variations (TTVs) and transit duration variations (TDVs). Here, through analysis of Kepler photometry and joint TTV–TDV modelling, we confirm the detection of KOI-134 b, a transiting planet with mass and size similar to Jupiter on a period of ~67 days, and find that it exhibits high TTVs (20-h amplitude) and significant TDVs. We explain these signals with the presence of an innermost non-transiting planet in 2:1... (More)

Few planetary systems have measured mutual inclinations, and even fewer are found to be non-coplanar. Observing the gravitational interactions between exoplanets is an effective tool to detect non-transiting companions to transiting planets. Evidence of these interactions can manifest in the light curve through transit timing variations (TTVs) and transit duration variations (TDVs). Here, through analysis of Kepler photometry and joint TTV–TDV modelling, we confirm the detection of KOI-134 b, a transiting planet with mass and size similar to Jupiter on a period of ~67 days, and find that it exhibits high TTVs (20-h amplitude) and significant TDVs. We explain these signals with the presence of an innermost non-transiting planet in 2:1 resonance with KOI-134 b. KOI-134 c has a mass M=0.220−0.011+0.010MJup and a moderately high mutual inclination with KOI-134 b of imut=15.4−2.5+2.8∘. Moreover, the inclination variations of KOI-134 b are so large that the planet is predicted to stop transiting in about 100 years. This system architecture cannot be easily explained by any one formation mechanism, with other dynamical effects needed to excite the planets’ mutual inclination while still preserving their resonance.

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Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Astronomy
volume
9
issue
9
pages
9 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:105009135620
ISSN
2397-3366
DOI
10.1038/s41550-025-02594-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.
id
6c1a3ff9-8098-460e-8eb6-3f7132713be1
date added to LUP
2026-01-27 13:10:15
date last changed
2026-01-27 13:11:14
@article{6c1a3ff9-8098-460e-8eb6-3f7132713be1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Few planetary systems have measured mutual inclinations, and even fewer are found to be non-coplanar. Observing the gravitational interactions between exoplanets is an effective tool to detect non-transiting companions to transiting planets. Evidence of these interactions can manifest in the light curve through transit timing variations (TTVs) and transit duration variations (TDVs). Here, through analysis of Kepler photometry and joint TTV–TDV modelling, we confirm the detection of KOI-134 b, a transiting planet with mass and size similar to Jupiter on a period of ~67 days, and find that it exhibits high TTVs (20-h amplitude) and significant TDVs. We explain these signals with the presence of an innermost non-transiting planet in 2:1 resonance with KOI-134 b. KOI-134 c has a mass M=0.220−0.011+0.010MJup and a moderately high mutual inclination with KOI-134 b of imut=15.4−2.5+2.8∘. Moreover, the inclination variations of KOI-134 b are so large that the planet is predicted to stop transiting in about 100 years. This system architecture cannot be easily explained by any one formation mechanism, with other dynamical effects needed to excite the planets’ mutual inclination while still preserving their resonance.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nabbie, Emma and Huang, Chelsea X. and Korth, Judith and Parviainen, Hannu and Wang, Su and Venner, Alexander and Wittenmyer, Robert and Bieryla, Allyson and Latham, David W. and Li, Gongjie and Lin, Douglas N.C. and Zhou, George}},
  issn         = {{2397-3366}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{1317--1325}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Astronomy}},
  title        = {{A high mutual inclination system around KOI-134 revealed by transit timing variations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02594-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41550-025-02594-8}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}