A TESS Disappearing Act: The Vanishing Transits of TOI-2535 b
Abstract Planetary transits require a fortuitous alignment between a planet’s orbit and our line of sight, but dynamical interactions can render this geometric coincidence only temporary. We report the discovery of the hot Jupiter TOI-2535b, the first confirmed planet orbiting a single star whose transits have been directly observed to disappear. Over 7 yr of photometry from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the planet’s transit chord traversed and eventually moved off the stellar disk entirely, with an impact parameter changing at the rate of b ̇ = 0.16 yr − 1 . The transit midtimes also show significant departures of ±6 hr from a linear ephemeris. Joint modeling of the transit timing and duration variations (TTVs and TDVs) and NEID radial-velocity data indicates the presence of a nearby, mutually inclined ( i mut ≳ 5 ∘ ) planetary perturber, with the TDV being primarily due to precession of the planets’ orbital planes. Our dynamical modeling reveals that the perturber is likely of Saturn-mass or greater and in a mean-motion resonance with TOI-2535b, making this an unusual system that contains two short-period giant planets. The TDVs measured for TOI-2535b represent one of the most extreme examples of planet–planet interactions driving orbital evolution on human timescales.
Authors
- Eric P Girardin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-3640)
- M. Gillon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1462-7739)
- F. Murgas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9087-1245)
- Ε. Πάλλη (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0987-1593)
- David W. Latham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9911-7388)
- Emmanuël Jehin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8923-488X)
- Rafael Brahm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9158-7315)
- Phil Evans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5674-2404)
- Howard M. Relles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5132-9520)
- Abderahmane Soubkiou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0345-2147)
- Samuel W. Yee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7961-3907)
- Karen A. Collins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6588-9574)
- Adam Popowicz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3184-5228)
- Erik A. Petigura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0967-2893)
- Richard P. Schwarz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8227-1020)
- Khalid Barkaoui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1464-9276)
- Victoria DiTomasso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0741-7661)
- Andrés Jordán (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5389-3944)
- Carl Ziegler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0619-7639)
- David Watanabe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3555-8464)
- Avi Shporer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1836-3120)
- Trifon Trifonov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0236-775X)
- Francis P. Wilkin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2127-8952)
- Don J. Radford (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3940-2360)
- Thomas K. Henning (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1493-300X)
- Mourad Ghachoui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3986-0297)
- Allyson Bieryla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6637-5401)
- Gregor Srdoč
Institutions
- Silesian University of Technology (PL)
- Cadi Ayyad University (MA)
- University of Liège (BE)
- Universidad de La Laguna (ES)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Union College (US)
- Stephen F. Austin State University (US)
- Adolfo Ibáñez University (CL)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (DE)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (ES)
- Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" (BG)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- University of Chile (CL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Published
- 2026-11-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb4a4
- Primary Topic
- Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00