The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) was selected on October 19, 2012, as the first small mission (S-mission) in the ESA Science Programme and successfully launched on December 18, 2019, as a secondary passenger on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. CHEOPS is a partnership between ESA and Switzerland with important contributions by ten additional ESA Member States. CHEOPS is the first mission dedicated to search for transits of exoplanets using ultrahigh precision photometry on bright stars already known to host planets. As a follow-up mission, CHEOPS is mainly dedicated to improving, whenever possible, existing radii measurements or provide first accurate measurements for a subset of those planets for which the mass has already been estimated from ground-based spectroscopic surveys. The expected photometric precision will also allow CHEOPS to go beyond measuring only transits and to follow phase curves or to search for exo-moons, for example. Finally, by unveiling transiting exoplanets with high potential for in-depth characterisation, CHEOPS will also provide prime targets for future instruments suited to the spectroscopic characterisation of exoplanetary atmospheres. To reach its science objectives, requirements on the photometric precision and stability have been derived for stars with magnitudes ranging from 6 to 12 in the V band. In particular, CHEOPS shall be able to detect Earth-size planets transiting G5 dwarf stars (stellar radius of 0.9R⊙) in the magnitude range 6 ≤ V ≤ 9 by achieving a photometric precision of 20 ppm in 6 hours of integration time. In the case of K-type stars (stellar radius of 0.7R⊙) of magnitude in the range 9 ≤ V ≤ 12, CHEOPS shall be able to detect transiting Neptune-size planets achieving a photometric precision of 85 ppm in 3 hours of integration time. This precision has to be maintained over continuous periods of observation for up to 48 hours. This precision and stability will be achieved by using a single, frame-transfer, back-illuminated CCD detector at the focal plane assembly of a 33.5 cm diameter, on-axis Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. The nearly 275 kg spacecraft is nadir-locked, with a pointing accuracy of about 1 arcsec rms, and will allow for at least 1 Gbit/day downlink. The sun-synchronous dusk-dawn orbit at 700 km altitude enables having the Sun permanently on the backside of the spacecraft thus minimising Earth stray light. A mission duration of 3.5 years in orbit is foreseen to enable the execution of the science programme. During this period, 20% of the observing time is available to the wider community through yearly ESA call for proposals, as well as through discretionary time approved by ESA’s Director of Science. At the time of this writing, CHEOPS commissioning has been completed and CHEOPS has been shown to fulfill all its requirements. The mission has now started the execution of its science programme.

New sets of young M dwarfs with complex, sharp-peaked, and strictly periodic photometric modulations have recently been discovered with Kepler/K2 (scallop shells) and TESS (complex rotators). All are part of star-forming associations, are distinct from other variable stars, and likely belong to a unified class. Suggested hypotheses include starspots, accreting dust disks, corotating clouds of material, magnetically constrained material, spots and misaligned disks, and pulsations. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview and add new observational constraints with TESS and SPECULOOS Southern Observatory photometry. We scrutinize all hypotheses from three new angles: (1) We investigate each scenario’s occurrence rates via young star catalogs, (2) we study the feature’s longevity using over one year of combined data, and (3) we probe the expected color dependency with multicolor photometry. In this process, we also revisit the stellar parameters accounting for activity effects, study stellar flares as activity indicators over year-long timescales, and develop toy models to simulate typical morphologies. We rule out most hypotheses, and only (i) corotating material clouds and (ii) spots and misaligned disks remain feasible—with caveats. For (i), corotating dust might not be stable enough, while corotating gas alone likely cannot cause percentage-scale features and (ii) would require misaligned disks around most young M dwarfs. We thus suggest a unified hypothesis, a superposition of large-amplitude spot modulations and sharp transits of corotating gas clouds. While the complex rotators’ mystery remains, these new observations add valuable pieces to the puzzle going forward.

We report the discovery of GJ 3929 b, a hot Earth-sized planet orbiting the nearby M3.5 V dwarf star, GJ 3929 (G 180-18, TOI-2013). Joint modelling of photometric observations from TESS sectors 24 and 25 together with 73 spectroscopic observations from CARMENES and follow-up transit observations from SAINT-EX, LCOGT, and OSN yields a planet radius of Rb = 1.150 ± 0.040 R⊕, a mass of Mb = 1.21 ± 0.42 M⊕, and an orbital period of Pb = 2.6162745 ± 0.0000030 d. The resulting density of ρb = 4.4 ± 1.6 g cm−3 is compatible with the Earth’s mean density of about 5.5 g cm−3. Due to the apparent brightness of the host star (J = 8.7 mag) and its small size, GJ 3929 b is a promising target for atmospheric characterisation with the JWST. Additionally, the radial velocity data show evidence for another planet candidate with P[c] = 14.303 ± 0.035 d, which is likely unrelated to the stellar rotation period, Prot = 122 ± 13 d, which we determined from archival HATNet and ASAS-SN photometry combined with newly obtained TJO data.

Context. TOI-2076 is a transiting three-planet system of sub-Neptunes orbiting a bright (G = 8.9 mag), young (340 ± 80 Myr) K-type star. Although a validated planetary system, the orbits of the two outer planets were unconstrained as only two non-consecutive transits were seen in TESS photometry. This left 11 and 7 possible period aliases for each. Aims. To reveal the true orbits of these two long-period planets, precise photometry targeted on the highest-probability period aliases is required. Long-term monitoring of transits in multi-planet systems can also help constrain planetary masses through TTV measurements. Methods. We used the MonoTools package to determine which aliases to follow, and then performed space-based and ground-based photometric follow-up of TOI-2076 c and d with CHEOPS, SAINT-EX, and LCO telescopes. Results. CHEOPS observations revealed a clear detection for TOI-2076 c at P = 21.01538 +0.00084 −0.00074 d, and allowed us to rule out three of the most likely period aliases for TOI-2076 d. Ground-based photometry further enabled us to rule out remaining aliases and confirm the P = 35.12537 ± 0.00067 d alias. These observations also improved the radius precision of all three sub-Neptunes to 2.518 ± 0.036, 3.497 ± 0.043, and 3.232 ± 0.063 R ⊕ . Our observations also revealed a clear anti-correlated TTV signal between planets b and c likely caused by their proximity to the 2:1 resonance, while planets c and d appear close to a 5:3 period commensurability, although model degeneracy meant we were unable to retrieve robust TTV masses. Their inflated radii, likely due to extended H-He atmospheres, combined with low insolation makes all three planets excellent candidates for future comparative transmission spectroscopy with JWST.

We report the discovery and characterisation of a pair of sub-Neptunes transiting the bright K-dwarf TOI-1064 (TIC 79748331), initially detected in TESS photometry. To characterise the system, we performed and retrieved CHEOPS, TESS, and ground-based photometry, HARPS high-resolution spectroscopy, and Gemini speckle imaging. We characterise the host star and determine Teff, ⋆ = 4734 ± 67 K, R⋆ = 0.726 ± 0.007 R⊙, and M⋆ = 0.748 ± 0.032 M⊙. We present a novel detrending method based on PSF shape-change modelling and demonstrate its suitability to correct flux variations in CHEOPS data. We confirm the planetary nature of both bodies and find that TOI-1064 b has an orbital period of Pb = 6.44387 ± 0.00003 d, a radius of Rb = 2.59 ± 0.04 R⊕, and a mass of $M_{\rm b} = 13.5_{-1.8}^{+1.7}$ M⊕, whilst TOI-1064 c has an orbital period of $P_{\rm c} = 12.22657^{+0.00005}_{-0.00004}$ d, a radius of Rc = 2.65 ± 0.04 R⊕, and a 3σ upper mass limit of 8.5 M⊕. From the high-precision photometry we obtain radius uncertainties of ∼1.6 per cent, allowing us to conduct internal structure and atmospheric escape modelling. TOI-1064 b is one of the densest, well-characterised sub-Neptunes, with a tenuous atmosphere that can be explained by the loss of a primordial envelope following migration through the protoplanetary disc. It is likely that TOI-1064 c has an extended atmosphere due to the tentative low density, however further RVs are needed to confirm this scenario and the similar radii, different masses nature of this system. The high-precision data and modelling of TOI-1064 b is important for planets in this region of mass-radius space, and it allows us to identify a trend in bulk density-stellar metallicity for massive sub-Neptunes that may hint at the formation of this population of planets.