Description
The sub-Jovian or Neptunian desert is a previously-identified region of parameter space where there is a relative dearth of intermediate- mass planets at short orbital periods. We present the discovery of a new transiting planetary system within the Neptunian desert, NGTS-14A. Transits of NGTS-14Ab were discovered in photometry from the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). Follow-up transit photometry was conducted from several ground-based facilities, as well as extracted from TESS full- frame images. We combine radial velocities from the HARPS spectrograph with the photometry in a global analysis to determine the system parameters. NGTS-14Ab has a radius about 30 per cent larger than that of Neptune (0.444+/-0.030R_Jup_), and is around 70 per cent more massive than Neptune (0.092+/-0.012 M_Jup_). It transits the main-sequence K1 star, NGTS-14A, with a period of 3.54 days, just far enough to have maintained at least some of its primordial atmosphere. We have also identified a possible long-period stellar mass companion to the system, NGTS-14B.
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