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Description
We report the discovery by the HATSouth network of HATS-7b, a transiting Super-Neptune with a mass of 0.120+/-0.012M_J_, a radius of 0.563_-0.034_^+0.046^R_J_, and an orbital period of 3.1853 days. The host star is a moderately bright (V=13.340+/-0.010mag, Ks=10.976+/-0.026mag) K dwarf star with a mass of 0.849+/-0.027M_{sun}_, a radius of 0.815_-0.035_^+0.049^R_{sun}_, and a metallicity of [Fe/H]=+0.250+/-0.080. The star is photometrically quiet to within the precision of the HATSouth measurements, has low RV jitter, and shows no evidence for chromospheric activity in its spectrum. HATS-7b is the second smallest radius planet discovered by a wide-field ground-based transit survey, and one of only a handful of Neptune-size planets with mass and radius determined to 10% precision. Theoretical modeling of HATS-7b yields a hydrogen-helium fraction of 18+/-4% (rock-iron core and H_2_-He envelope), or 9+/-4% (ice core and H_2_-He envelope), i.e., it has a composition broadly similar to that of Uranus and Neptune, and very different from that of Saturn, which has 75% of its mass in H_2_-He. Based on a sample of transiting exoplanets with accurately (<20%) determined parameters, we establish approximate power-law relations for the envelopes of the mass-density distribution of exoplanets. HATS-7b, which, together with the recently discovered HATS-8b, is one of the first two transiting super-Neptunes discovered in the Southern sky, is a prime target for additional follow-up observations with Southern hemisphere facilities to characterize the atmospheres of Super-Neptunes (which we define as objects with mass greater than that of Neptune, and smaller than halfway between that of Neptune and Saturn, i.e., 0.054M_J_<M_p_<0.18M_J_).
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