TIC 366240660 - A Dynamically Active Triple With a Very Short Outer Period of 30.5 Days
Methods: We analyze TESS photometric data, radial velocity measurements, and eclipse timing variation curves for the triple star system, TIC 366240660, with a photodynamical code to infer the properties of all three stars and orbital motions. Results: With an outer orbital period of only 30.5 d, this is the second most compact triple reported in the literature. We have determined the masses and $T_{\rm eff}$ values of the three stars with an accuracy of about 1% and the radii to about 2%. The inclination angles of the two planes, and the mutual inclination angle are found with an accuracy of better than 1/3$^\circ$. The system is determined to be quite flat (to within 1/2$^\circ$), but with an outer eccentricity of $e_{\rm out} \simeq 0.33$. We find that the properties of the secondary star of the inner binary are completely inconsistent with the evolution of a single star in isolation, and it must have transferred most of its envelope to the current primary star in the inner binary during a prior episode of mass transfer. The eclipse timing variation (ETV) curve derived from the TESS photometric data shows that, in addition to a typical dynamical delay curve at the period of the outer orbit, there is also a much larger amplitude anomalous sinusoidal-like delay with a period of 840 d. This latter feature in the ETV curve is not yet describable in simple analytic terms, but it appears certain that it can be explained by the near integer ($\simeq$13:1) ratio of the outer to the inner orbital periods. Conclusions: We have extensively explored the exotic and anomalous ETVs of this highly compact triple system and found that they can exceed hours for the inner binary eclipses, and several days for the outer orbital eclipses. We provide a preliminary explanation for how these are related to the 13:1 mean motion resonance of the outer to inner orbits.