TOI-2046b, TOI-1181b, and TOI-1516b, three new hot Jupiters from TESS: planets orbiting a young star, a subgiant, and a normal star

We present the confirmation and characterization of three hot Jupiters, TOI-118 lb, TOI-1516b, and TOI-2046b, discovered by the "NESS space mission. The reported hot Jupiters have orbital periods between 1.4 and 2.05 d. The masses of the three planets are 1.18 +/- 0.14 Mj, 3.16 +/- 0.12 Mj, and 2.30 +/- 0.28 Mj, for TOI-1181b, TOI-1516b, and TOI-2046b, respectively. The stellar host of TOI-1181b is a F9IV star, whereas TOI-1516b and TOI-2046b orbit F main sequence host stars. The ages of the first two systems are in the range of 2-5 Gyrs. However, TOI-2046 is among the few youngest known planetary systems hosting a hot Jupiter, with an age estimate of 100-400 Myrs. The main instruments used for the radial velocity follow-up of these three planets are located at OndIejov, Tautenburg, and McDonald Observatory, and all three are mounted on 2-3 m aperture telescopes, demonstrating that mid-aperture telescope networks can play a substantial role in the follow-up of gas giants discovered by TESS and in the future by PLATO.