We report the discovery of a brown dwarf that transits one member of the M+M binary system LHS 6343 AB every 12.71 days. The transits were discovered using photometric data from the Kepler public data release. The LHS 6343 stellar system was previously identified as a single high proper motion M dwarf. We use adaptive optics imaging to resolve the system into two low-mass stars with masses 0.370 ± 0.009 M and 0.30 ± 0.01 M , respectively, and a projected separation of 0. 55. High-resolution spectroscopy shows that the more massive component undergoes Doppler variations consistent with Keplerian motion, with a period equal to the transit period and an amplitude consistent with a companion mass of M C = 62.7 ± 2.4 M Jup . Based on our analysis of the transit light curve, we estimate the radius of the companion to be R C = 0.833 ± 0.021 R Jup , which is consistent with theoretical predictions of the radius of a >1 Gyr brown dwarf.

We confirm and characterize the exoplanetary systems Kepler-445 and Kepler-446: two mid-M dwarf stars, each with multiple, small, short-period transiting planets. Kepler-445 is a metal-rich ([Fe/H]=+0.25 ± 0.10) M4 dwarf with three transiting planets, and Kepler-446 is a metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-0.30 ± 0.10) M4 dwarf also with three transiting planets. Kepler-445c is similar to GJ 1214b: both in planetary radius and the properties of the host star. The Kepler-446 system is similar to the Kepler-42 system: both are metal-poor with large galactic space velocities and three shortperiod, likely-rocky transiting planets that were initially assigned erroneously large planet-to-star radius ratios. We independently determined stellar parameters from spectroscopy and searched for and fitted the transit light curves for the planets, imposing a strict prior on stellar density in order to remove correlations between the fitted impact parameter and planet-to-star radius ratio for shortduration transits. Combining Kepler-445, Kepler-446 and Kepler-42, and isolating all mid-M dwarf stars observed by Kepler with the precision necessary to detect similar systems, we calculate that 21 +7−5 % of mid-M dwarf stars host compact multiples (multiple planets with periods of less than 10 days) for a wide range of metallicities. We suggest that the inferred planet masses for these systems support highly efficient accretion of protoplanetary disk metals by mid-M dwarf protoplanets.The same calculation for the Sun results in only 5% of disk metals contributing to rocky planets (Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury), with significantly more contributing to the cores of the solar system's gas giant planets.The preference for metals to contribute to rocky planets rather than gas-giant cores would be strong evidence for the planet-formation scenario suggested by Laughlin et al. (2004), in which gas-giant-core embryos form in the protoplanetary disks around M dwarf stars; however, the gas in the disk dissipates before those embryos grow large enough to accrete and are cut-off as terrestrial planets. The scenario is already supported by the relative scarcity of gas-giant exoplanets found to orbit M dwarf stars. Using radial velocity observations, Johnson et al. (2010) found a statistical decrease in giant planet planet occurrence with decreasing host star mass, including M dwarfs in the radial velocity sample. However, Gaidos & Mann (2014) do not find strong support for a statistical deficiency of gas giant planets orbiting M dwarfs, though they cannot statistically rule out a deficiency. Regardless, the presence of failed embryos in some consistent proportion to the amount of available metals in the protoplanetary disk would provide support for the cut-off accretion scenario.

We report the confirmation and characterization of a transiting gas giant planet orbiting the M dwarf KOI-254 every 2.455239 days, which was originally discovered by the Kepler mission. We use radial velocity measurements, adaptive optics imaging and near infrared spectroscopy to confirm the planetary nature of the transit events. KOI-254 b is the first hot Jupiter discovered around an M-type dwarf star. We also present a new model-independent method of using broadband photometry to estimate the mass and metallicity of an M dwarf without relying on a direct distance measurement. Included in this methodology is a new photometric metallicity calibration based on J − K colors. We use this technique to measure the physical properties of KOI-254 and its planet. We measure a planet mass of M P sin i = 0.505 M Jup , radius R P = 0.96 R Jup and semimajor axis a = 0.030 AU, based on our measured stellar mass M ⋆ = 0.59 M ⊙ and radius R ⋆ = 0.55 R ⊙ . We also find that the host star is metal-rich, which is consistent with the sample of M-type stars known to harbor giant planets.

We present an IDL graphical user interface-driven software package designed for the analysis of extrasolar planet transit light curves. The Transit Analysis Package (TAP) software uses Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to fit light curves using the analytic model of Mandel and Agol (2002). The package incorporates a wavelet based likelihood function developed by Carter and Winn (2009) which allows the MCMC to assess parameter uncertainties more robustly than classic χ 2 methods by parameterizing uncorrelated "white" and correlated "red" noise. The software is able to simultaneously analyze multiple transits observed in different conditions (instrument, filter, weather, etc). The graphical interface allows for the simple execution and interpretation of Bayesian MCMC analysis tailored to a user's specific data set and has been thoroughly tested on ground-based and Kepler photometry. AutoKep provides a similar GUI for the preparation of Kepler MAST archive data for analysis by TAP or any other analysis software. This paper describes the software release and provides instructions for its use.

We present the results of a transcontinental campaign to observe the 2009 June 5 transit of the exoplanet HD 80606b. We report the first detection of the transit ingress, revealing the transit duration to be 11.64 ± 0.25 hr and allowing more robust determinations of the system parameters. Keck spectra obtained at midtransit exhibit an anomalous blueshift, giving definitive evidence that the stellar spin axis and planetary orbital axis are misaligned. The Keck data show that the projected spin-orbit angle λ is between 32-87 deg with 68.3% confidence and between 14-142 deg with 99.73% confidence. Thus the orbit of this planet is not only highly eccentric (e = 0.93) but is also tilted away from the equatorial plane of its parent star. A large tilt had been predicted, based on the idea that the planet's eccentric orbit was caused by the Kozai mechanism. Independently of the theory, it is noteworthy that all 3 exoplanetary systems with known spin-orbit misalignments have massive planets on eccentric orbits, suggesting that those systems migrate through a different channel than lower-mass planets on circular orbits.

We demonstrate how the metallicities of red supergiant (RSG) stars can be measured from quantitative spectroscopy down to resolutions of ≈ 3000 in the J-band. We have obtained high resolution spectra on a sample of the RSG population of h and χ Persei, a double cluster in the solar neighborhood. We show that careful application of the marcs model atmospheres returns measurements of Z consistent with solar metallicity. Using two grids of synthetic spectra−one in pure LTE and one with NLTE calculations for the most important diagnostic lines−we measure Z = +0.04 ± 0.10 (LTE) and Z = −0.04 ± 0.08 (NLTE) for the sample of eleven RSGs in the cluster. We degrade the spectral resolution of our observations and find that those values remain consistent down to resolutions of less than λ/δλ of 3000. Using measurements of effective temperatures we compare our results with stellar evolution theory and find good agreement. We construct a synthetic cluster spectrum and find that analyzing this composite spectrum with single-star RSG models returns an accurate metallicity. We conclude that the RSGs make ideal targets in the near infrared for measuring the metallicities of star forming galaxies out to 7-10 Mpc and up to ten times farther by observing the integrated light of unresolved super star clusters.

We present a quantitative spectroscopic study of twenty-seven red supergiants in the Sculptor Galaxy NGC 300. J-band spectra were obtained using KMOS on the VLT and studied with state of the art synthetic spectra including NLTE corrections for the strongest diagnostic lines. We report a central metallicity of [Z]= −0.03 ± 0.05 with a gradient of −0.083 ± 0.014 [dex/kpc −1 ], in agreement with previous studies of blue supergiants and H ii-region auroral line measurements. This result marks the first application of the J-band spectroscopic method to a population of individual red supergiant stars beyond the Local Group of galaxies and reveals the great potential of this technique.

We present evidence that the WASP-14 exoplanetary system has misaligned orbital and stellarrotational axes, with an angle λ =−33.1 • ± 7.4 • between their sky projections. The evidence is based on spectroscopic observations of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect as well as new photometric observations. WASP-14 is now the third system known to have a significant spin-orbit misalignment, and all three systems have "super-Jupiter" planets (M P > 3 M Jup ) and eccentric orbits. This finding suggests that the migration and subsequent orbital evolution of massive, eccentric exoplanets is somehow different from that of less massive close-in Jupiters, the majority of which have well-aligned orbits.