What Photometric Space Telescopes Can Tell Us About Extrasolar Giant Planets

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900218524 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 202 ◽

pp. 468-470

Author(s):

S. Seager ◽

Lam Hui

Keyword(s):

Giant Planets ◽

Light Curves ◽

Planetary Rings ◽

Space Telescopes ◽

Transiting Planets ◽

Reflected Light ◽

Parent Star

Within the next few years three microsatellites with part-per-million photometric capability (MOST, MONS, COROT) will be launched. These space telescopes, which were designed for asteroseismology, as well as other proposed or planned space telescopes to detect Earth-like transiting planets (Kepler and Eddington), will be able to observe the reflected light curves of the close-in extrasolar giant planets (CEGPs). The CEGPs are 0.05 AU from their parent star and are potentially bright in reflected light. For a transiting planet (at any orbital distance) moons and planetary rings may be detected.

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Observations of the transiting planet TrES-2 with the AIU Jena telescope in Großschwabhausen

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921308026860 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 4 (S253) ◽

pp. 436-439 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

S. Raetz ◽

M. Mugrauer ◽

T. O. B. Schmidt ◽

T. Roell ◽

T. Eisenbeiss ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Precision ◽

Orbital Period ◽

Ccd Camera ◽

Light Curves ◽

Orbital Parameters ◽

Transiting Planets ◽

Photometric Monitoring ◽

Cassegrain Telescope ◽

Parent Star ◽

Planetary Transits

AbstractWe have started high precision photometric monitoring observations at the AIU Jena observatory in Großschwabhausen near Jena in fall 2006. We used a 25.4cm Cassegrain telescope equipped with a CCD-camera mounted piggyback on a 90cm telescope. To test the attainable photometric precision, we observed stars with known transiting planets. We could recover all planetary transits observed by us.We observed the parent star of the transiting planet TrES-2 over a longer period in Großschwabhausen. Between March and November 2007 seven different transits and almost a complete orbital period were analyzed. Overall, in 31 nights of observation 3423 exposures (in total 57.05h of observation) of the TrES-2 parent star were taken. Here, we present our methods and the resulting light curves. Using our observations we could improve the orbital parameters of the system.

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Possible case of exoplanetary rings around HIP 41378 f

10.5194/epsc2020-41 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Babatunde Akinsanmi ◽

Nuno Santos ◽

Joao Faria ◽

Mahmoud Oshagh ◽

Susana Barros ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Light Curve ◽

Equilibrium Temperature ◽

Giant Planets ◽

Light Curves ◽

Planetary Rings ◽

Material Density ◽

Long Period ◽

System A ◽

In Transit ◽

Ring Material

Planetary rings are exciting features yet to be detected around exoplanets despite their prevalence around the giant planets and other rocky bodies of the solar system. A number of studies have proposed methods to identify and characterise the signatures of rings mostly from transit light curves. Probing for the presence of rings in transit light curves is very useful as the rings can cause a number of effects both on the light curve shape and the inferred parameters of the planet. The presence of rings around a transiting planet can cause it to appear larger and lead to an underestimation of its density if the mass is known. Therefore, a class of planets with extremely low densities, called Super puffs, can be planets with yet undetected rings. A Bayesian framework is employed here to show that the anomalously low density (~0.09 g/cm3) of the transiting long-period planet HIP 41378f might be due to the presence of opaque circum-planetary rings. Analysing the light curve data from the K2 mission, we construct physically motivated model priors and found that the statistical evidence for the ringed planet scenario is&#160; comparable to that of the planet-only scenario. The ringed planet solution suggests a larger planetary density of ~1.23 g/cm3 similar to Uranus. The associated ring extends from 1.05 to 2.59 times the planetary radius and is inclined away from the sky-plane by ~25 degrees. However, the computed ring material density is lower than is expected for a planet with an equilibrium temperature of 294K so future high-precision transit observations of HIP 41378f would be necessary to confirm/dismiss the presence of planetary rings.

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A multi-wavelength analysis of the WASP-12 planetary system

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921311020126 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 6 (S276) ◽

pp. 163-166 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Luca Fossati ◽

Carole A. Haswell ◽

Cynthia S. Froning

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Atmospheric Pollution ◽

Planetary System ◽

Light Curves ◽

Absorption Lines ◽

Transiting Planets ◽

Multi Wavelength ◽

Global Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Type ◽

Solar Type Star

AbstractWASP-12 is a 2 Gyr old solar type star, hosting WASP-12b, one of the most irradiated transiting planets currently known. We observed WASP-12 in the UV with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on HST. The light curves we obtained in the three covered UV wavelength ranges, all of which contain many photospheric absorption lines, imply effective radii of 2.69±0.24 RJ, 2.18±0.18 RJ, and 2.66±0.22 RJ, suggesting that the planet is surrounded by an absorbing cloud which overfills the Roche lobe. We clearly detected enhanced transit depths at the wavelengths of the MgII h&k resonance lines. Spectropolarimetric analysis of the host star was also performed. We found no global magnetic field, but there were hints of atmospheric pollution, which might be connected to the very unusual activity of the host star.

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Infrared Spectroscopy of Jupiter and Saturn

Highlights of Astronomy ◽

10.1017/s1539299600012946 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

pp. 96-98

Author(s):

Pierre Drossart

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Thermal Emission ◽

Temporal Evolution ◽

Imaging Spectroscopy ◽

Giant Planets ◽

Infrared Range ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

Temperature Structure ◽

Reflected Light

AbstractThe spectroscopy of giant planets in the infrared range gives access to a remote sensing of many physical parameters. The composition, pressure/temperature structure, and the cloud structure all contribute to the spectrum, in solar reflected light below 3 micrometer as well as thermal emission above, from atmospheric levels ranging from the mesosphere down to the troposphere. Imaging spectroscopy revealing the variability of the atmosphere gives access to spatial and temporal evolution of these parameters, constraining the meteorological evolution of the planets.

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Ploonets: formation, evolution, and detectability of tidally detached exomoons

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stz2110 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 489 (2) ◽

pp. 2313-2322 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mario Sucerquia ◽

Jaime A Alvarado-Montes ◽

Jorge I Zuluaga ◽

Nicolás Cuello ◽

Cristian Giuppone

Keyword(s):

Planetary System ◽

Orbital Evolution ◽

Giant Planets ◽

Light Curves ◽

Significant Evidence ◽

Object A ◽

Tidal Interactions ◽

Stellar Radiation ◽

Planetary Migration ◽

Intense Research

Abstract Close-in giant planets represent the most significant evidence of planetary migration. If large exomoons form around migrating giant planets which are more stable (e.g. those in the Solar system), what happens to these moons after migration is still under intense research. This paper explores the scenario where large regular exomoons escape after tidal interchange of angular momentum with its parent planet, becoming small planets by themselves. We name this hypothetical type of object a ploonet. By performing semi-analytical simulations of tidal interactions between a large moon with a close-in giant, and integrating numerically their orbits for several Myr, we found that in ∼50 per cent of the cases a young ploonet may survive ejection from the planetary system, or collision with its parent planet and host star, being in principle detectable. Volatile-rich ploonets are dramatically affected by stellar radiation during both planetocentric and siderocentric orbital evolution, and their radius and mass change significantly due to the sublimation of most of their material during time-scales of hundreds of Myr. We estimate the photometric signatures that ploonets may produce if they transit the star during the phase of evaporation, and compare them with noisy light curves of known objects (Kronian stars and non-periodical dips in dusty light curves). Additionally, the typical transit timing variations (TTV) induced by the interaction of a ploonet with its planet are computed. We find that present and future photometric surveys’ capabilities can detect these effects and distinguish them from those produced by other nearby planetary encounters.

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Phase Functions and Light Curves of Wide‐Separation Extrasolar Giant Planets

The Astrophysical Journal ◽

10.1086/430206 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 627 (1) ◽

pp. 520-533 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

David Sudarsky ◽

Adam Burrows ◽

Ivan Hubeny ◽

Aigen Li

Keyword(s):

Giant Planets ◽

Light Curves ◽

Phase Functions

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A search for transiting planets around FGKM dwarfs and subgiants in the TESS full frame images of the Southern ecliptic hemisphere

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa2438 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 498 (2) ◽

pp. 1726-1749 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M Montalto ◽

L Borsato ◽

V Granata ◽

G Lacedelli ◽

L Malavolta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Random Forest ◽

Light Curves ◽

Correct Identification ◽

Transiting Planets ◽

Long Period ◽

Period Distribution ◽

Distribution Ranges ◽

Show Evidence ◽

Dynamical Constraints ◽

Subgiant Stars

ABSTRACT In this work, we present the analysis of 976 814 FGKM dwarf and subgiant stars in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Telescope (TESS) full frame images (FFIs) of the Southern ecliptic hemisphere. We present a new pipeline, DIAmante, developed to extract optimized, multisector photometry from TESS FFIs and a classifier, based on the Random Forest technique, trained to discriminate plausible transiting planetary candidates from common false positives. A new statistical model was developed to provide the probability of correct identification of the source of variability. We restricted the planet search to the stars located in the least crowded regions of the sky and identified 396 transiting planetary candidates among which 252 are new detections. The candidates’ radius distribution ranges between 1 R⊕ and 2.6 RJ with median value of 1 RJ and the period distribution ranges between 0.25 and 105 d with median value of 3.8 d. The sample contains four long period candidates (P > 50 d), one of which is new, and 64 candidates with periods between 10 and 50 d (42 new ones). In the small planet radius domain (4R < R⊕), we found 39 candidates among which 15 are new detections. Additionally, we present 15 single transit events (14 new ones), a new candidate multiplanetary system, and a novel candidate around a known TOI. By using Gaia dynamical constraints, we found that 70 objects show evidence of binarity. We release a catalogue of the objects we analysed and the corresponding light curves and diagnostic figures through the MAST and ExoFOP portals.

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Transit least-squares survey

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201935600 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 627 ◽

pp. A66 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

René Heller ◽

Michael Hippke ◽

Kai Rodenbeck

Keyword(s):

Signal Detection ◽

Least Squares ◽

Visual Inspection ◽

Detection Efficiency ◽

Light Curves ◽

Direct Result ◽

Transiting Planets ◽

Least Squares Algorithm ◽

Orbital Periods ◽

Primary Mission

The extended Kepler mission (K2) has revealed more than 500 transiting planets in roughly 500 000 stellar light curves. All of these were found either with the box least-squares algorithm or by visual inspection. Here we use our new transit least-squares (TLS) algorithm to search for additional planets around all K2 stars that are currently known to host at least one planet. We discover and statistically validate 17 new planets with radii ranging from about 0.7 Earth radii (R⊕) to roughly 2.2 R⊕ and a median radius of 1.18 R⊕. EPIC 201497682.03, with a radius of 0.692+0.059−0.048, is the second smallest planet ever discovered with K2. The transit signatures of these 17 planets are typically 200 ppm deep (ranging from 100 ppm to 2000 ppm), and their orbital periods extend from about 0.7 d to 34 d with a median value of about 4 d. Fourteen of these 17 systems only had one known planet before, and they now join the growing number of multi-planet systems. Most stars in our sample have subsolar masses and radii. The small planetary radii in our sample are a direct result of the higher signal detection efficiency that TLS has compared to box-fitting algorithms in the shallow-transit regime. Our findings help in populating the period-radius diagram with small planets. Our discovery rate of about 3.7% within the group of previously known K2 systems suggests that TLS can find over 100 additional Earth-sized planets in the data of the Kepler primary mission.

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