Weak evidence for variable occultation depth of 55 Cnc e with TESS

Context. 55 Cnc e is in a 0.73 day orbit transiting Sun-like star. It has been observed that the occultation depth of this super-Earth, with mass 8 M ? and radius 2 R , changes significantly over time at mid-infrared wavelengths. Observations Spitzer measured change its day-side brightness temperature 1200 K, possibly driven by volcanic activity, magnetic star-planet interaction, or presence circumstellar torus dust. Aims. Previous evidence for variability was infrared range. Here we aim to explore if also exists optical Methods. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) during sectors 21, 44, 46. We carefully detrended data fitted transit model each sector Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) routine. In later stage, used leave-one-out (LOO) cross-validation statistic compare constant complete set no occultation. Results. report an ± 2.5 ppm TESS observations. particular, 15 4 while 44 detected 46 weak 5 ppm. varies from one next between 1.6 3.4 ? significance. derived possible contribution on reflected light thermal emission upper limit geometric albedo. Based our comparison, favoured considerably occultation, varying across takes most statistical weight. Conclusions. Our analysis confirms detection TESS. Moreover, results weakly lean towards sector, visits.