Refining exoplanet ephemerides and transit observing strategies

Stephen R. Kane, Suvrath Mahadevan, Kaspar Von Braun, Gregory Laughlin, David R. Ciardi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

66 Scopus citations

Abstract

Transiting planet discoveries have yielded a plethora of information regarding the internal structure and atmospheres of extrasolar planets. These discoveries have been restricted to the low-periastron distance regime due to the bias inherent in the geometric transit probability. Monitoring known radial velocity planets at predicted transit times is a proven method of detecting transits, and presents an avenue through which to explore the massradius relationship of exoplanets in new regions of period/periastron space. Here we describe transit window calculations for known radial velocity planets, techniques for refining their transit ephemerides, target selection criteria, and observational methods for obtaining maximum coverage of transit windows. These methods are currently being implemented by the Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1386-1394
Number of pages9
JournalPublications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Volume121
Issue number886
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2009

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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