2021AJ....162..218C

We present the discovery of TOI-1518b-an ultra-hot Jupiter orbiting a bright star (V = 8.95). The transiting planet is confirmed using high-resolution optical transmission spectra from EXPRES. It is inflated, with R_p = 1.875 ± 0.053 R_J, and exhibits several interesting properties, including a misaligned orbit (240.34_–0.98^+0.93 degrees) and nearly grazing transit (b=0.9036_–0.0053^+0.0061). The planet orbits a fast-rotating F0 host star (T_eff ≃ 7300 K) in 1.9 days and experiences intense irradiation. Notably, the TESS data show a clear secondary eclipse with a depth of 364 ± 28 ppm and a significant phase-curve signal, from which we obtain a relative day-night planetary flux difference of roughly 320 ppm and a 5.2σ detection of ellipsoidal distortion on the host star. Prompted by recent detections of atomic and ionized species in ultra-hot Jupiter atmospheres, we conduct an atmospheric cross-correlation analysis. We detect neutral iron (5.2σ), at K_p=157_–44⁺⁶⁸ km s^–1 and V_sys=-16_–4⁺², adding another object to the small sample of highly irradiated gas-giant planets with Fe detections in transmission. Detections so far favor particularly inflated gas giants with radii >=1.78 R_J, which may be due to observational bias. With an equilibrium temperature of T_eq = 2492 ± 38 K and a measured dayside brightness temperature of 3237 ± 59 K (assuming zero geometric albedo), TOI-1518b is a promising candidate for future emission spectroscopy to probe for a thermal inversion.