Period variations in extrasolar transiting planet OGLE-TR-111b.

RODRIGO F. DÍAZ; PATRICIO ROJO; MARIO MELITA; SERGIO HOYER; DANTE MINNITI; PABLO J. D. MAUAS; MARÍA TERESA RUÍZ

Cambridge, Massachusetts, E.E.U.U.

Simposio; IAU Symposium 253. Transiting Planets; 2008

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Two consecutive transits of planetary companion OGLE-TR-111b wereobserved in the I band.  Combining these observations with data fromthe literature, we find that the timing of the transits cannot beexplained by a constant period, and that the observed variationscannot be originated by the presence of a satellite. However, aperturbing planet with the mass of the Earth in an exterior orbitcould explain the observations if the orbit of OGLE-TR-111b iseccentric. We also show that the eccentricity needed to explain theobservations is not ruled out by the radial velocity data found in theliterature.