The discovery and characterization of transiting giant planets , and especially warm giants (P =10-300 days), orbiting bright stars is key for tackling at least two major questions: (i) which properties govern the internal structural composition of giant planets, and (ii) how they can be found significantly inside the water ice line. The TESS mission is detecting hundreds of transiting warm giant candidates. Our collaboration uses ground-based photometry, high-resolution spectroscopy, and our own software tools, to confirm and characterize these fascinating planets.

TESS-detected transits need to be confirmed as being on-target with follow-up photometry, due to the large TESS pixel size. Likewise, many warm giants will only transit once in a 27-day TESS sector, so further transits must be observed from the ground. We use photometry from multiple telescopes, including a 60-cm telescope at Obstech/El Sauce Observatory, Chile, which we help operate, to achieve these goals. 

Transiting planet candidates require confirmation through radial velocity measurements. We use high-resolution spectroscopy from HARPS, FEROS, CORALIE, and CHIRON to confirm our warm giant candidates and measure their masses.