2370611

Target RA (J2000): 207.526169 and deg Target Dec (J2000): -40.83580 and deg Gaia GMag: 9.61 Programme ID: CH_PR240004 PI of observing programme: Ilin Title of programme: HIP 67522 b – a Hot Jupiter that triggers flares on its host Abstract: The habitability of exoplanets depends crucially on the space weather they experience. A planet orbiting _inwards_ of the habitable zone is a natural probe of the magnetized winds and energetic radiation traveling towards a potentially habitable planet. When a planet orbits close enough to its host it can perturb the star’s magnetic field setting off energetic flares in the stellar corona. In the optical these flares appear as recurrent brightenings in phase with the orbit. If we measure such flares we immediately know that the planet moves inside the closed-field corona critical information for space weather modelers. To measure this planet-induced flaring we have to find flares occurring in excess of intrinsic stellar flaring. This is done by testing for deviations from a random distribution of flares with the orbital phase of the planet. HIP 67522 a 17 Myr Sun with a Hot Jupiter in a 7-day orbit detected in 2020 has the ideal properties to exhibit such excess flares. But there is more: In recent TESS data HIP 67522 flared a total of four times. Each time the flare took place within 10h after transit the same 4% of the planet’s orbit. This is very unlikely to happen if these flares occurred randomly. We propose to observe HIP 67522 using CHEOPS high sensitivity for flares for 16 visits for 8 orbits each during the critical 4% of HIP 67522 bs orbit to measure for the first time planet induced flares at high significance. [truncated! Please see actual data for full text]