Two extrasolar planets, HD 209458b and TrES-1, are currently known to transit bright parent stars for which physical properties can be accurately determined. The two transiting planets have very similar masses and periods and hence invite detailed comparisons between their observed and theoretically predicted properties. In this paper, we carry out these comparisons. We first report photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations of TrES-1, and we use these observations to obtain improved estimates for the planetary radius, R-pl = (1.08 +/- 0.05)R-J, and the planetary mass, M-pl (0.729 +/- 0.036)M-J. We also confirm that the inclination estimate of the planetary orbit as i = 88.degrees 2. These values agree with those obtained by Alonso et al. in their discovery paper, but the uncertainty in the planet radius has been improved as a result of both high-cadence photometry of two full transits and from independent radius determinations for the V 11.8 K0 V parent star. We derive estimates for the TrES-1 stellar parameters of R-*/R-circle dot = 0.83 +/- 0.03 (by combining independent estimates from stellar models, high-resolution spectra, and transit light curve fitting) M-*/M-circle dot = 0.87 +/- 0.05 (via fitting to evolutionary tracks), T-eff = 5214 +/- 23 K, [Me/H] = 0.001 +/- 0.04, rotational velocity V sin (i) 1.08 +/- 0.3 km s(-1), log g 4.52 +/- 0.05 dex, log L-*/L-circle dot = -0.32, d = 157 +/- 6 pc, and an age of tau = 4 +/- 2 Gyr. These estimates of the physical properties of the system allow us to compute evolutionary models for the planet that result in a predicted radius of R-pl = 1.05R(J) for a model that contains an incompressible 20 M-circle plus core and a radius R-pl = 1.09R(J) for a model without a core. We use our grids of planetary evolution models to show that, with standard assumptions, our code also obtains good agreement with the observed radii of the other recently discovered transiting planets, including OGLE-TR-56b, OGLE-TR-111b, OGLE-TR113b, and OGLE-TR-132b. We report an updated radius for HD 209458b of R-pl = (1.32 +/- 0.05)R-J, based on a new radius estimate of R-* = 1.12 R-circle dot for the parent star. Our theoretical predictions for the radius of HD 209458b are R-pl = 1.05R(J) and 1.09R(J) for models with and without cores. HD 209458b is therefore the only transiting planet whose radius does not agree well with our theoretical models. We argue that tidal heating stemming from dynamical interaction with a second planet is currently the most viable explanation for its inflated size.

Doppler measurements from Subaru and Keck have revealed radial velocity variations in the V 8.15, G0 IV star HD 149026 consistent with a Saturn-mass planet in a 2.8766 day orbit. Photometric observations at Fairborn Observatory have detected three complete transit events with depths of 0.003 mag at the predicted times of conjunction. HD 149026 is now the second-brightest star with a transiting extrasolar planet. The mass of the star, based on interpolation of stellar evolutionary models, is 1.3 +/- 0.1 M-circle dot; together with the Doppler amplitude K-1 = 43.3 m s(-1), we derive a planet mass M sin i = 0.36M(J) and orbital radius 0.042 AU. HD 149026 is chromospherically inactive and metal-rich with spectroscopically derived [Fe/H] = +0.36, T-eff 6147 K, log g 4.26, and v sin i 6.0 km s(-1). Based on Teff and the stellar luminosity of 2.72 L-circle dot, we derive a stellar radius of 1.45 R-circle dot. Modeling of the three photometric transits provides an orbital inclination of 85 degrees.3 +/- 1 degrees.0 and ( including the uncertainty in the stellar radius) a planet radius of (0.725 +/- 0.05) R-J. Models for this planet mass and radius suggest the presence of a similar to 67 M-circle dot core composed of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. This substantial planet core would be difficult to construct by gravitational instability.

We report 35 radial velocity measurements of HD 149026 taken with the Keck Telescope. Of these measurements, 15 were made during the transit of the companion planet HD 149026b, which occurred on 2005 June 25. These velocities provide a high-cadence observation of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, the shifting of photospheric line profiles that occurs when a planet occults a portion of the rotating stellar surface. We combine these radial velocities with previously published radial velocity and photometric data sets and derive a composite best-fit model for the star-planet system. This model confirms and improves previously published orbital parameters, including the remarkably small planetary radius, the planetary mass, and the orbital inclination, found to be R-p/R-Jup 0.718 +/- 0.065, M-p/M-Jup 0.352 +/- 0.025, and I = 86.1 degrees +/- 1.4 degrees, respectively. Together the planetary mass and radius determinations imply a mean planetary density of 1.18(-0.30)(+0.38) g cm(-3). The new data also allow for the determination of the angle between the apparent stellar equator and the orbital plane, which we constrain to be lambda = 12 degrees +/- 15 degrees.

Near- infrared observations of more than a dozen 'hot-Jupiter' extrasolar planets have now been reported(1-5). These planets display a wide diversity of properties, yet all are believed to have had their spin periods tidally spin- synchronized with their orbital periods, resulting in permanent star- facing hemispheres and surface flow patterns that are most likely in equilibrium. Planets in significantly eccentric orbits can enable direct measurements of global heating that are largely independent of the details of the hydrodynamic flow(6). Here we report 8-mu m photometric observations of the planet HD 80606b during a 30- hour interval bracketing the periastron passage of its extremely eccentric 111.4- day orbit. As the planet received its strongest irradiation ( 828 times larger than the flux received at apastron) its maximum 8- mm brightness temperature increased from 800 K to 1,500K over a six- hour period. We also detected a secondary eclipse for the planet, which implies an orbital inclination of i approximate to 90 degrees, fixes the planetary mass at four times the mass of Jupiter, and constrains the planet's tidal luminosity. Our measurement of the global heating rate indicates that the radiative time constant at the planet's 8- mu m photosphere is similar to 4.5 h, in comparison with 3 - 5 days in Earth's stratosphere(7).

We present high-resolution High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES)/Keck spectra of HD 209458, and a Monte Carlo variation on the basic method used by other workers, to look for the excess in-transit absorption in the NaD doublet at 5893 angstrom due to the extrasolar planet. The HIRES data, binned by bandpass, allow a direct comparison with previous results. We find >3 sigma results in most test bandpasses around the NaD doublet, including relative absorption of (-108.8 +/- 25.7) x 10(-5) in the "narrow" bandpass used by other workers. This is approximate to 4.7 times larger than the "narrow" results reported by Charbonneau et al. for HD 209458b. However, >2 sigma absorption is detected in some weak Fe I and Ni I lines that were tested for comparison, raising concern about the uncertainties introduced by continuum-fitting and terrestrial atmosphere subtraction.

We investigate the possibility that the large orbital eccentricity of the transiting Neptune-mass planet Gliese 436b (Gl 436b) is maintained in the face of tidal dissipation by a second planet in the system. We find that the currently observed configuration can be understood if Gl 436b and a putative companion have evolved to a quasi-stationary fixed point in which the planets' orbital apses are co-linear and in which secular variations in the orbital eccentricities of the two planets have been almost entirely damped out. In our picture, the two planets are currently experiencing a long period of gradual orbital circularization. Specifically, if Gl 436b has a tidal Q similar to 300,000, similar to both the Jovian Q and to the upper limit for the Neptunian Q, then this circularization timescale can be of order tau similar to 8 Gyr given the presence of a favorably situated perturber. We adopt an octopole-order secular theory based on a Legendre expansion in the semimajor axis ratio a(1)/a(2) to delineate well-defined regions of (P-c, M-c, e(c)) space that can be occupied by a perturbing companion. This description includes the leading-order effects of general relativity, and retains accuracy for perturbing companion planets that have high eccentricity. We incorporate the evolutionary effect of tidal dissipation into our secular model of the system, and solve the resulting initial value problems for a large sample of the allowed configurations. We find a locus of apsidally aligned configurations that are (1) consistent with the currently published radial velocity data, (2) consistent with the current lack of observed transit timing variations (TTVs), (3) subject to rough constraint on dynamical stability, and which (4) have damping timescales consistent with the current multi-Gyr age of the star. We then polish the stationary configurations derived from secular theory with full numerical integrations, and compute the TTVs and radial velocity half-amplitudes induced by the resulting configurations. We present our results in the form of candidate companion planets to Gl 436b. For these candidates, radial velocity half-amplitudes, K-c, are of order 3 m s(-1), and the maximum amplitude of orbit-to-orbit TTVs are of order Delta t = 1 s to Delta t = 5 s. For the particular example case of a perturber with orbital period, P-c = 40d, mass, M-c = 8.5 M-circle plus, and eccentricity, e(c) = 0.58, we confirm our semianalytic calculations with a full numerical three-body integration of the orbital decay that includes tidal damping and spin evolution. Additionally, we discuss the possibility of many-perturber stationary configurations, utilizing modified Laplace-Lagrange secular theory. We then perform a proof-of-concept tidally dissipated numerical integration with three planets, which shows the system approaching a triply circular state.

We present the Systemic Console, a new all-in-one, general-purpose software package for the analysis and combined multiparameter fitting of Doppler radial velocity (RV) and transit timing observations. We give an overview of the computational algorithms implemented in the console, and describe the tools offered for streamlining the characterization of planetary systems. We illustrate the capabilities of the package by analyzing an updated radial velocity data set for the HD 128311 planetary system. HD 128311 harbors a pair of planets that appear to be participating in a 2:1 mean motion resonance. We show that the dynamical configuration cannot be fully determined from the current data. We find that if a planetary system like HD 128311 is found to undergo transits, then self-consistent Newtonian fits to combined radial velocity data and a small number of timing measurements of transit midpoints can provide an immediate and vastly improved characterization of the planet's dynamical state.

The Systemic Console is a software package for the fitting of Doppler radial velocity (RV) and transit timing observations arising from arbitrarily complex planetary systems. To illustrate its capabilities, we analyze a new RV dataset and synthetic datasets for the HD128311 planetary system and show that integrated fits that combine radial velocities and a small number of transit timing observations in a self-consistent fashion can greatly constrain the orbital parameters of a perturbing body.

By July 2014, the Automated Planet Finder (APF) at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton will have completed its first year of operation. This facility combines a modern 2.4m computer-controlled telescope with a flexible development environment that enables efficient use of the Levy Spectrometer for high cadence observations. The Levy provides both sub-meter per second radial velocity precision and high efficiency, with a peak total system throughput of 24%. The modern telescope combined with efficient spectrometer routinely yields over 100 observations of 40 stars in a single night, each of which has velocity errors of 0.7 to 1.4 meters per second, all with typical seeing of < 1 arc second full-width-half-maximum (FWHM). The whole observing process is automated using a common application programming interface (API) for inter-process communication which allows scripting to be done in a variety of languages (Python, Tel, bash, csh, etc.) The flexibility and ease-of-use of the common API allowed the science teams to be directly involved in the automation of the observing process, ensuring that the facility met their requirements. Since November 2013, the APF has been routinely conducting autonomous observations without human intervention.

We report the detection of a double planetary system around the evolved intermediate-mass star HD 47366 from precise radial-velocity measurements at the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, Xinglong Station, and Australian Astronomical Observatory. The star is a K1 giant with a mass of 1.81 +/- 0.13 M-circle dot, a radius of 7.30 +/- 0.33 R-circle dot, and solar metallicity. The planetary system is composed of two giant planets with minimum masses of 1.75(-0.17)(+0.20) M-J and 1.86(-0.15)(+0.16) M-J, orbital periods of 363.3(-2.4)(+2.5) days and 684.7(-4.9)(+5.0) days, and eccentricities of 0.089(-0.060)(+0.079) and 0.278(-0.094)(+0.067), respectively, which are derived by a double Keplerian orbital fit to the radial-velocity data. The system adds to the population of multi-giant-planet systems with relatively small orbital separations, which are preferentially found around evolved intermediate-mass stars. Dynamical stability analysis for the system revealed, however, that the best-fit orbits are unstable in the case of a prograde configuration. The system could be stable if the planets were in 2: 1 mean-motion resonance, but this is less likely, considering the observed period ratio and eccentricity. A present possible scenario for the system is that both of the planets have nearly circular orbits, namely the eccentricity of the outer planet is less than similar to 0.15, which is just within 1.4 sigma of the best-fit value, or the planets are in a mutually retrograde configuration with a mutual orbital inclination larger than 160 degrees.