We report the discovery of an ultrahot Jupiter with an extremely short orbital period of 0.67247414 ± 0.00000028 days (∼16 hr). The 1.347 ± 0.047 R _Jup planet, initially identified by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, orbits TOI-2109 (TIC 392476080)—a T _eff ∼ 6500 K F-type star with a mass of 1.447 ± 0.077 M _☉, a radius of 1.698 ± 0.060 R _☉, and a rotational velocity of v sin i * = 81.9 ± 1.7 km s⁻¹. The planetary nature of TOI-2109b was confirmed through radial-velocity measurements, which yielded a planet mass of 5.02 ± 0.75 M _Jup. Analysis of the Doppler shadow in spectroscopic transit observations indicates a well-aligned system, with a sky-projected obliquity of λ = 1.°7 ± 1.°7. From the TESS full-orbit light curve, we measured a secondary eclipse depth of 731 ± 46 ppm, as well as phase-curve variations from the planet’s longitudinal brightness modulation and ellipsoidal distortion of the host star. Combining the TESS-band occultation measurement with a K _s -band secondary eclipse depth (2012 ± 80 ppm) derived from ground-based observations, we find that the dayside emission of TOI-2109b is consistent with a brightness temperature of 3631 ± 69 K, making it the second hottest exoplanet hitherto discovered. By virtue of its extreme irradiation and strong planet–star gravitational interaction, TOI-2109b is an exceptionally promising target for intensive follow-up studies using current and near-future telescope facilities to probe for orbital decay, detect tidally driven atmospheric escape, and assess the impacts of H₂ dissociation and recombination on the global heat transport.

We present observations of two bright M dwarfs (TOI-1634 and TOI-1685: J = 9.5–9.6) hosting ultra-short-period (USP) planets identified by the TESS mission. The two stars are similar in temperature, mass, and radius (T _eff ≈ 3500 K, M _⋆ ≈ 0.45–0.46 M _⊙, and R _⋆ ≈ 0.45–0.46 R _⊙), and the planets are both super-Earth size (1.25 R _⊕ < R _p < 2.0 R _⊕). For both systems, light curves from ground-based photometry exhibit planetary transits, whose depths are consistent with those from the TESS photometry. We also refine the transit ephemerides based on the ground-based photometry, finding the orbital periods of P = 0.9893436 ± 0.0000020 days and P = 0.6691416 ± 0.0000019 days for TOI-1634b and TOI-1685b, respectively. Through intensive radial velocity (RV) observations using the InfraRed Doppler (IRD) instrument on the Subaru 8.2 m telescope, we confirm the planetary nature of the TOIs and measure their masses: 10.14 ± 0.95 M _⊕ and 3.43 ± 0.93 M _⊕ for TOI-1634b and TOI-1685b, respectively, when the observed RVs are fitted with a single-planet circular-orbit model. Combining those with the planet radii of R _p = 1.749 ± 0.079 R _⊕ (TOI-1634b) and 1.459 ± 0.065 R _⊕ (TOI-1685b), we find that both USP planets have mean densities consistent with an Earth-like internal composition, which is typical for small USP planets. TOI-1634b is currently the most massive USP planet in this category, and it resides near the radius valley, which makes it a benchmark planet in the context of discussing the size limit of rocky planet cores as well as testing the formation scenarios for USP planets. Excess scatter in the RV residuals for TOI-1685 suggests the presence of a possible secondary planet or unknown activity/instrumental noise in the RV data, but further observations are required to check those possibilities.

JWST has ushered in an era of unprecedented ability to characterize exoplanetary atmospheres. While there are over 5000 confirmed planets, more than 4000 Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) planet candidates are still unconfirmed and many of the best planets for atmospheric characterization may remain to be identified. We present a sample of TESS planets and planet candidates that we identify as “best-in-class” for transmission and emission spectroscopy with JWST. These targets are sorted into bins across equilibrium temperature T _eq and planetary radius R _p and are ranked by a transmission and an emission spectroscopy metric (TSM and ESM, respectively) within each bin. We perform cuts for expected signal size and stellar brightness to remove suboptimal targets for JWST. Of the 194 targets in the resulting sample, 103 are unconfirmed TESS planet candidates, also known as TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs). We perform vetting and statistical validation analyses on these 103 targets to determine which are likely planets and which are likely false positives, incorporating ground-based follow-up from the TESS Follow-up Observation Program to aid the vetting and validation process. We statistically validate 18 TOIs, marginally validate 31 TOIs to varying levels of confidence, deem 29 TOIs likely false positives, and leave the dispositions for four TOIs as inconclusive. Twenty-one of the 103 TOIs were confirmed independently over the course of our analysis. We intend for this work to serve as a community resource and motivate formal confirmation and mass measurements of each validated planet. We encourage more detailed analysis of individual targets by the community.

We analysed 68 candidate planetary systems first identified during Campaigns 5 and 6 (C5 and C6) of the NASA K2 mission. We set out to validate these systems by using a suite of follow-up observations, including adaptive optics, speckle imaging, and reconnaissance spectroscopy. The overlap between C5 with C16 and C18, and C6 with C17, yields light curves with long baselines that allow us to measure the transit ephemeris very precisely, revisit single transit candidates identified in earlier campaigns, and search for additional transiting planets with longer periods not detectable in previous works. Using vespa , we compute false positive probabilities of less than 1 per cent for 37 candidates orbiting 29 unique host stars and hence statistically validate them as planets. These planets have a typical size of 2.2 R_⊕ and orbital periods between 1.99 and 52.71 d. We highlight interesting systems including a sub-Neptune with the longest period detected by K2, sub-Saturns around F stars, several multiplanetary systems in a variety of architectures. These results show that a wealth of planetary systems still remains in the K2 data, some of which can be validated using minimal follow-up observations and taking advantage of analyses presented in previous catalogues.

We report on the determination of the mass of TOI-519 b, a transiting substellar object around a mid-M dwarf. We carried out radial velocity measurements using Subaru/InfraRed Doppler (IRD), revealing that TOI-519 b is a planet with a mass of |$0.463^{+0.082}_{-0.088}\, M_{\rm Jup}$|⁠. We also found that the host star is metal rich ([Fe/H] = 0.27 ± 0.09 dex) and has the lowest effective temperature (T_eff = 3322 ± 49 K) among all stars hosting known close-in giant planets based on the IRD spectra and mid-resolution infrared spectra obtained with NASA Infrared Telescope Facility/SpeX. The core mass of TOI-519 b inferred from a thermal evolution model ranges from 0 to ∼30 M_⊕, which can be explained by both core accretion and disk instability models as the formation origins of this planet. However, TOI-519 is in line with the emerging trend that M dwarfs with close-in giant planets tend to have high metallicity, which may indicate that they formed in the core accretion model. The system is also consistent with the potential trend that close-in giant planets around M dwarfs tend to be less massive than those around FGK dwarfs.

We report the discovery of TOI-2119b, a transiting brown dwarf (BD) that orbits and is completely eclipsed by an active M-dwarf star. Using light-curve data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission and follow-up high-resolution Doppler spectroscopic observations, we find the BD has a radius of R_b = 1.08 ± 0.03R_J, a mass of M_b = 64.4 ± 2.3M_J, an orbital period of P = 7.200865 ± 0.00002 d, and an eccentricity of e = 0.337 ± 0.002. The host star has a mass of M_⋆ = 0.53 ± 0.02M_⊙, a radius of R_⋆ = 0.50 ± 0.01R_⊙, an effective temperature of T_eff = 3621 ± 48K, and a metallicity of |$\rm [Fe/H]=+0.06\pm 0.08$|⁠. TOI-2119b joins an emerging population of transiting BDs around M-dwarf host stars, with TOI-2119 being the ninth such system. These M-dwarf–brown dwarf systems typically occupy mass ratios near q = M_b/M_⋆ ≈ 0.1−0.2, which separates them from the typical mass ratios for systems with transiting substellar objects and giant exoplanets that orbit more massive stars. The nature of the secondary eclipse of the BD by the star enables us to estimate the effective temperature of the substellar object to be 2030 ± 84K, which is consistent with predictions by substellar evolutionary models.