Kavli Affiliate: Michael Fausnaugh
| Summary:
We report the discovery of Gaia23bra b, the first gravitationally bound microlensing planet detected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Initially flagged as a single-lens event by the Gaia Science Alerts system, Gaia23bra was serendipitously observed by TESS over two consecutive sectors. During those TESS sectors, the light curve of the event displayed caustic-crossing features characteristic of a binary-lens event. Joint modeling of Gaia and TESS photometry with pyLIMA, supplemented by stellar parameter inference using pyLIMASS, suggests a K dwarf ($M_L = 0.79^+0.19_-0.17,M_odot$) hosting a Jovian planet with $M_P = 1.63_-0.38^+0.42,M_rm Jup$ at a projected separation of $a_perp,min approx 4.8,mathrmAU$. This result underscores the synergy between high-cadence photometry and long-baseline monitoring for robust microlensing characterization. Its location along the Galactic Plane highlights TESS’s unexpected capacity for microlensing science through its all-sky coverage and its potential to detect planets in regions beyond the Galactic Bulge.
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