We present short-cadence data of the ultra-active star AB Dor measured by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). In the TESS light curves of AB Dor, we found numerous flare events in addition to time-variable rotational modulation with an amplitude of up to 7%. We identified eight superflares (releasing more than 1034 erg) and studied their morphologies and energetics. We compared these flares to both the most energetic solar flare seen in total solar irradiance measurements as well as to a very energetic flare on AB Dor observed by XMM-Newton, the superflare nature of which we also demonstrate. The total energy of both the solar flare and the event on AB Dor emitted in the optical exceed their respective X-ray outputs possibly by an order of magnitude, suggesting that the dominant energy loss of such flares actually occurs at optical wavelengths. Superflares are found to take place on AB Dor at a rate of about one per week, and due to the star’s proximity and brightness can be studied in excruciating detail. Thus the TESS data offer a superb possibility to study the frequency and energetics of superflare events for stars in the solar neighborhood and at large.

We present a detailed characterization of the Kepler-411 system (KOI 1781). This system was previously known to host two transiting planets: one with a period of 3 days (R = 2.4R ⊕ ; Kepler-411b) and one with a period of 7.8 days (R = 4.4R ⊕ ; Kepler-411c), as well as a transiting planetary candidate with a 58-day period (R = 3.3R ⊕ ; KOI 1781.03) from Kepler photometry. Here, we combine Kepler photometry data and new transit timing variation (TTV) measurements from all the Kepler quarters with previous adaptiveoptics imaging results, and dynamical simulations, in order to constrain the properties of the Kepler-411 system. From our analysis, we obtain masses of 25.6±2.6M ⊕ for Kepler-411b and 26.4±5.9 M ⊕ for Kepler-411c, and we confirm the planetary nature of KOI 1781.03 with a mass of 15.2±5.1M ⊕ , hence the name Kepler-411d. Furthermore, by assuming near-coplanarity of the system (mutual inclination below 30 • ), we discover a nontransiting planet, Kepler-411e, with a mass of 10.8±1.1M ⊕ on a 31.5-day orbit, which has a strong dynamical interaction with Kepler-411d. With densities of 1.71 ± 0.39 g cm −3 and 2.32 ± 0.83 g cm −3 , both Kepler-411c and Kepler-411d belong to the group of planets with a massive core and a significant fraction of volatiles. Although Kepler-411b has a sub-Neptune size, it belongs to the group of rocky planets.

Recent observations of asteroidal surfaces indicate the presence of materials that do not match the bulk lithology of the body. A possible explanation for the presence of these exogenous materials is that they are products of inter-asteroid impacts in the Main Belt, and thus interest has increased in understanding the fate of the projectile during hypervelocity impacts. In order to gain insight into the fate of impactor we have carried out a laboratory programme, covering the velocity range of 0.38 -3.50 km/s, devoted to measuring the survivability, fragmentation and final state of the impactor. Forsterite olivine and synthetic basalt projectiles were fired onto low porosity (<10%) pure water-ice targets using the University of Kent's Light Gas Gun (LGG). We developed a novel method to identify impactor fragments which were found in ejecta and implanted into the target. We applied astronomical photometry techniques, using the SOURCE EXTRACTOR software, to automatically measure the dimensions of thousands of fragments. This procedure enabled us to estimate the implanted mass on the target body, which was found to be a few percent of the initial mass of the impactor. We calculated an order of magnitude difference in the energy density of catastrophic disruption, Q*, between peridot and basalt projectiles. However, we found very similar behaviour of the size frequency distributions for the hypervelocity shots (>1 km/s). After each shot, we examined the largest peridot fragments with Raman spectroscopy and no melt or alteration in the final state of the projectile was observed.

We report the detection and characterization of two short-period, Neptune-sized planets around the active host star Kepler-210. The host star's parameters derived from those planets are (a) mutually inconsistent and (b) do not conform to the expected host star parameters. We furthermore report the detection of transit timing variations (TTVs) in the O-C diagrams for both planets. We explore various scenarios that explain and resolve those discrepancies. A simple scenario consistent with all data appears to be one that attributes substantial eccentricities to the inner short-period planets and that interprets the TTVs as due to the action of another, somewhat longer period planet. To substantiate our suggestions, we present the results of N-body simulations that modeled the TTVs and that checked the stability of the Kepler-210 system.

Transit timing variations (TTVs) of exoplanets are normally interpreted as the consequence of gravitational interaction with additional bodies in the system. However, TTVs can also be caused by deformations of the system transits by starspots, which might thus pose a serious complication in their interpretation. We therefore simulate transit light curves deformed by spot-crossing events for different properties of the stellar surface and the planet, such as starspot position, limb darkening, planetary period, and impact parameter. Mid-transit times determined from these simulations can be significantly shifted with respect to the input values; these shifts cannot be larger than 1% of the transit duration and depend very strongly on the longitudinal position of the spot during the transit and the transit duration. Consequently, TTVs with amplitudes larger than the above limit are very unlikely to be caused by starspots. We also investigate whether TTVs from sequences of consecutive transits with spot-crossing anomalies can be misinterpreted as the result of an additional body in the system. We use the Generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram to search for periods in TTVs and conclude that low-amplitude TTVs with statistically significant periods around active stars are the most problematic cases. In those cases where the photometric precision is high enough to inspect the transit shapes for deformations it should be possible to identify TTVs caused by starspots; however, especially for cases with low signal-to-noise in transit (TSNR 15) light curves it becomes quite difficult to reliably decide whether these periods come from starspots, physical companions in the system, or if they are random noise artifacts.