The obliquity between a planet's orbital axis and its host star's spin axis provides crucial insights into planetary formation and migration. Planets with scaled semi-major axes (a/R⋆) large enough to be unaffected by tidal alterations ("tidally detached"), offer a unique opportunity to study the original obliquity in which the system formed. We therefore observed TOI-1710 b (a/R⋆≈36) in-transit using HARPS-N + GIANO-B, collecting high-precision radial velocities to measure the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect. Spectral analysis of the Hα and HeI triple lines was also pursued to evaluate atmospheric photoevaporation. Using our knowledge of the star rotation period (21.5±0.2 d), we estimated a true obliquity of ψ=149−10+11 deg, which indicates a retrograde motion and places TOI-1710 b among the most misaligned systems -- and the only one known orbiting a cool star in retrograde motion. The strong misalignment favours a high-eccentricity migration (HEM) origin for this low-density super-Neptune planet in the savanna region, challenging previous findings that claimed a minor role of HEM in this period-radius(-density) domain. Moreover, the strong misalignment and lack of a detected close stellar companion suggests a purely planetary post-migration misalignment, likely due to planet-planet scattering followed by planet-planet Kozai-Lidov oscillations and tidal circularisation.
@article{arxiv.2604.19179,
title = {A tidally detached super Neptune on a strongly misaligned retrograde orbit},
author = {G. Mantovan and L. Malavolta and A. F. Lanza and F. Marzari and L. Naponiello and K. Biazzo and R. Cosentino and M. C. D'Arpa and S. Desidera and G. Guilluy and D. Nardiello and A. Sozzetti and S. Vissapragada and R. Aloisi and S. Benatti and L. Borsato and R. Claudi and S. Jenkins and V. Nascimbeni and G. Piotto and T. Zingales},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.19179},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
10 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter on 20 April 2026, first submission to A&A on 2 April 2026