The CoRoT satellite has announced its fourth transiting planet (Aigrain et al. 2008) with space photometry. We describe and analyse complementary observations of this system performed to establish the planetary nature of the transiting body and to estimate the fundamental parameters of the planet and its parent star. We have analysed high precision radial-velocity data, ground-based photometry, and high signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopy. The parent star CoRoT-Exo-4 (2MASS 06484671-0040219) is a late F-type star of mass of 1.16 Msun and radius of 1.17 Rsun. The planet has a circular orbit with a period of 9.20205d. The planet radius is 1.19 Rjup and the mass is 0.72 Mjup. It is a gas-giant planet with a ''normal'' internal structure of mainly H and He. CoRoT-Exo-4b has the second longest period of the known transiting planets. It is an important discovery since it occupies an empty area in the mass-period diagram of transiting exoplanets.
Context. The CoRoT space mission routinely provides high-precision photometric measurements of thousands of stars that have been continuously observed for months. Aims. The discovery and characterization of the first very massive transiting planetary companion with a short orbital period is reported. Methods. A series of 34 transits was detected in the CoRoT light curve of an F3V star, observed from May to October 2007 for 152 days. The radius was accurately determined and the mass derived for this new transiting, thanks to the combined analysis of the light curve and complementary ground-base…
Context. The CoRoT mission, a pioneer in exoplanet searches from space, has completed its first 150 days of continuous observations of ~12000 stars in the galactic plane. An analysis of the raw data identifies the most promising candidates and triggers the ground-based follow-up. Aims. We report on the discovery of the transiting planet CoRoT-Exo-2b, with a period of 1.743 days, and characterize its main parameters. Methods. We filter the CoRoT raw light curve of cosmic impacts, orbital residuals, and low frequency signals from the star. The folded light curve of 78 transits is fitted to a mod…
CoRoT, the first space-based transit search, provides ultra-high precision light curves with continuous time-sampling over periods, of up to 5 months. This allows the detection of transiting planets with relatively long periods, and the simultaneous study of the host star's photometric variability. In this letter, we report on the discovery of the transiting giant planet CoRoT-Exo-4b and use the CoRoT light curve to perform a detailed analysis of the transit and to determine the stellar rotation period. The CoRoT light curve was pre-processed to remove outliers and correct for orbital residual…
We report on the spectroscopic transit of the massive hot-Jupiter CoRoT-Exo-2b observed with the high-precision spectrographs SOPHIE and HARPS. By modeling the radial velocity anomaly occurring during the transit due to the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect, we determine the sky-projected angle between the stellar spin and the planetary orbital axis to be close to zero lambda=7.2+-4.5 deg, and we secure the planetary nature of CoRoT-Exo-2b. We discuss the influence of the stellar activity on the RM modeling. Spectral analysis of the parent star from HARPS spectra are presented.
Context. The pioneer space mission for photometric planet searches, CoRoT, steadily monitors about 12,000 stars in each of its fields of view; it is able to detect transit candidates early in the processing of the data and before the end of a run. Aims. We report the detection of the first planet discovered by CoRoT and characterizing it with the help of follow-up observations. Methods. Raw data were filtered from outliers and residuals at the orbital period of the satellite. The orbital parameters and the radius of the planet were estimated by best fitting the phase folded light curve with 34…
We present a preliminary analysis of the photospheric activity of CoRoT-Exo-2a, a young G7V star accompanied by a transiting hot Jupiter recently discovered by CoRoT. We apply spot modelling techniques developed for the analysis of the Sun as a star and capable to extract from CoRoT high precision light curves information on the variation of the total spotted area and the longitude of active regions along the 142 days of the observations. This preliminary analysis shows that the active regions form within two active longitudes separated by about 180 degrees and rotating with periods of 4.5221 …
The Universal Transit Modeller (UTM) is a light-curve simulator for all kinds of transiting or eclipsing configurations between arbitrary numbers of several types of objects, which may be stars, planets, planetary moons, and planetary rings. Applications of UTM to date have been mainly in the generation of light-curves for the testing of detection algorithms. For the preparation of such test for the Corot Mission, a special version has been used to generate multicolour light-curves in Corot's passbands. A separate fitting program, UFIT (Universal Fitter) is part of the UTM distribution and may…
COROT will be the first high precision photometric satellite to be launched with the aim of detecting exoplanets by the transit method. In this paper, we present the simulations we have carried out in order to assess the detection capability of COROT. Using the model of stellar population synthesis of the Galaxy developed at Besancon Observatory (Robin & Creze 1986) and a simple cross-correlation technique (Borde et al. 2001), we find that COROT has the capacity to detect numerous exoplanets, not only Jupiter and Uranus-class ones, but also hot terrestrial planets, if they exist. We show that …
Asteroseismic observations from space can provide us with long time series of uninterrupted high quality data for many stars at the same time. The CoRoT satellite (Convection Rotation and planetary Transits) was launched successfully in December 2006 and provides high precision photometery for a large number of stars. Here we present our research on (late G and K) red giant stars observed during the first long run (150 days) of CoRoT with the 'eye' dedicated to exo-planet research.
We present a detection criterion for exo-planets to be used with the space mission COROT. This criterion is based on the transit method, which suggests the observation of star dimming caused by partial occulations by planetary companions. When at least three transits are observed, we show that a cross-correlation technique can yield a detection threshold, thus enabling the evaluation of the number of possible detections, assuming a model for the stellar population in the Galaxy.
We investigate the improved detection of extrasolar planets around eclipsing binaries using eclipse minima timing, and extrasolar moons around transiting planets using transit timing, offered by the upcoming COROT (ESA, 2005), Kepler (NASA, 2007), and Eddington (ESA 2008) spacecraft missions. Hundreds of circum-binary planets should be discovered, and a thorough survey of moons around transiting planets will be accomplished by these missions.
With more than 80 transits observed in the CoRoT light curve with a cadence of 32 s, CoRoT-Exo-2b provides an excellent case to search for the secondary eclipse of the planet, with an expected signal of less than 10^-4 in relative flux. The activity of the star causes a modulation on the flux that makes the detection of this signal challenging. We describe the technique used to seek for the secondary eclipse, that leads to a tentative 2.5 sigma detection of a 5.5x10^-5 eclipse. If the effect of the spots are not taken into account, the times of transit centers will also be affected. They could…
The Canadian MOST satellite is a unique platform for observations of bright transiting exoplanetary systems. Providing nearly continuous photometric observations for up to 8 weeks, MOST can produce important observational data to help us learn about the properties of exosolar planets. We review our current observations of HD 209458, HD 189733 with implications towards the albedo and our progress towards detecting reflected light from an exoplanet.
The discovery of the short-period giant exoplanet population, the so-called hot Jupiter population, and their link to brown dwarfs and low-mass stars challenges the conventional view of planet formation and evolution. We took advantage of the multi-fiber facilities GIRAFFE and FLAMES-UVES (VLT) to perform the first large radial velocity survey using a multi-fiber spectrograph, aiming at detecting planetary and brown dwarfs candidates and binaries. We observed during 5 consecutive half-nights 816 stars selected within one of the exoplanet field of the space mission CoRoT. We computed the radial…
CoRoT, which was launched successfully on the 27th of December 2006, is the first space mission to have the search for planetary transits at the heart of its science programme. It is expected to be able to detect transits of planets with radii down to approximately two Earth radii and periods up to approximately a month. Thus, CoRoT will explore the hereto uncharted area of parameter space which spans the transition between the gaseous giant planets discovered in large numbers from the ground, and terrestrial planets more akin to our own. This papers briefly sketches out the main technical cha…
The space experiment CoRoT has recently detected transits by a hot Jupiter across the disc of an active G7V star (CoRoT-Exo-2a) that can be considered as a good proxy for the Sun at an age of approximately 0.5 Gyr. We present a spot modelling of the optical variability of the star during 142 days of uninterrupted observations performed by CoRoT with unprecedented photometric precision. We apply spot modelling approaches previously tested in the case of the Sun by modelling total solar irradiance variations. To model the light curve of CoRoT-Exo-2a, we take into account both the photometric eff…
Studying the internal structure of exoplanets-host stars compared to that of similar stars without detected planets is particularly important for the understanding of planetary formation. The observed overmetallicity of stars with planets may be a hint in that respect. Although it is obviously related to the physical processes which occur during the early phases of planetary formation, the origin of this overmetallicity is unclear. It may be either primordial or related to accretion processes or both. In this framework, asteroseismic studies represent an excellent tool to determine the structu…
The era of exoplanet characterization is upon us. For a subset of exoplanets -- the transiting planets -- physical properties can be measured, including mass, radius, and atmosphere characteristics. Indeed, measuring the atmospheres of a further subset of transiting planets, the hot Jupiters, is now routine with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will continue Spitzer's legacy with its large mirror size and precise thermal stability. JWST is poised for the significant achievement of identifying habitable planets around bright M through G stars--rocky planets lac…
The space mission CoRoT (COnvection, ROtation and planetary Transits) will offer the possibility to detect extrasolar planets by means of the transit method. The satellite will observe about 60000 targets in the range 11.0<V<16.0, located in five fields near the equator. The parts of the preparatory work in which the Italian community has been involved are described, with a particular emphasis on the observations to characterize the fields, on the effects of stellar activity and background stars and on the outreach activities. We performed a quantitative evaluation of instrumental and stellar …
Searching for transit timing variations in the known transiting exoplanet systems can reveal the presence of other bodies in the system. Here we report such searches for two transiting exoplanet systems, TrES-1 and WASP-2. Their new transits were observed with the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope located on La Palma, Spain. In a continuing programme, three consecutive transits were observed for TrES-1, and one for WASP-2 during September 2007. We used the Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations to derive transit times and their uncertainties. The resulting transit times are consistent with the mos…
We report the discovery of a transiting hot Jupiter around OGLE-TR-111, from our radial velocity follow-up of OGLE transiting candidates in Carina. The planet has a mass of 0.53 +- 0.11 M_J and a radius of 1.0 +0.13-0.06 R_J. Three transiting exoplanets have already been found among OGLE candidates, all with periods near 1.5 days. The planet presented here, with P=4.0 days, is the first exoplanet detected by transits with the characteristics of a "normal" hot Jupiter, as found in abundance by radial velocity surveys The radius of OGLE-TR-111b and the scarcity of hot Jupiters detected among OGL…
The radial velocity technique is currently used to classify transiting objects. While capable of identifying grazing binary eclipses, this technique cannot reliably identify blends, a chance overlap of a faint background eclipsing binary with an ordinary foreground star. Blends generally have no observable radial velocity shifts, as the foreground star is brighter by several magnitudes and therefore dominates the spectrum, but their combined light can produce events that closely resemble those produced by transiting exoplanets. The radial velocity technique takes advantage of the mass differen…
We report the discovery of a sub-Jupiter mass exoplanet transiting a magnitude V=11.7 host star 1SWASP J030928.54+304024.7. A simultaneous fit to the transit photometry and radial-velocity measurements yield a planet mass M_p=0.53+-0.07M_J, radius R_p=0.91^{+0.06}_{-0.03}R_J and an orbital period of 3.722465^{+0.000006}_{-0.000008} days. The host star is of spectral type K3V, with a spectral analysis yielding an effective temperature of 4800+-100K and log g=4.45+-0.2. It is amongst the smallest, least massive and lowest luminosity stars known to harbour a transiting exoplanet. WASP-11b is the …
Context. Observations and analysis of solar-type oscillations in red-giant stars is an emerging aspect of asteroseismic analysis with a number of open questions yet to be explored. Although stochastic oscillations have previously been detected in red giants from both radial velocity and photometric measurements, those data were either too short or had sampling that was not complete enough to perform a detailed data analysis of the variability. The quality and quantity of photometric data as provided by the CoRoT satellite is necessary to provide a breakthrough in observing p-mode oscillations …
There is evidence that the transiting planet HD 209458b has a large exosphere of neutral hydrogen, based on a 15% decrement in Lyman-alpha flux that was observed by Vidal-Madjar et al. during transits. Here we report upper limits on H-alpha absorption by the exosphere. The results are based on optical spectra of the parent star obtained with the Subaru High Dispersion Spectrograph. Comparison of the spectra taken inside and outside of transit reveals no exospheric H-alpha signal greater than 0.1% within a 5.1A band (chosen to have the same Delta_lambda/lambda as the 15% Ly-alpha absorption). T…
Many ground-based photometric surveys are now under way, and five of them have been successful at detecting transiting exoplanets. Nevertheless, detecting transiting planets has turned out to be much more challenging than initially anticipated. Transit surveys have learnt that an overwhelming number of false positives and confusion scenarios, combined with an intermittent phase coverage and systematic residuals in the photometry, could make ground-based surveys rather inefficient in the detection of transiting planets. We have set up a working group on transiting planets to confront the experi…
We searched for spectral signatures from the exosphere of HD209458 in the UV and the near-IR with UVES and ISAAC at the VLT. We looked in particular for the helium absorption feature at 10 830 Åpredicted to be among the strongest ones. The upper limit of the He I line derived is 0.5% at 3 $σ$ for a 3 Åbandwith. Planet-induced chromospheric activity search on HD209458 was also performed.
The Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect is the distortion of stellar spectral lines that occurs during eclipses or transits, due to stellar rotation. We assess the future prospects for using the RM effect to measure the alignment of planetary orbits with the spin axes of their parent stars, and to confirm exoplanetary transits. We compute the achievable accuracy for the parameters of interest, in general and for the 5 known cases of transiting exoplanets with bright host stars. We determine the requirements for detecting the effects of differential rotation. For transiting planets with small masse…
HD 149026b is a short-period, Saturn-mass planet that transits a metal-rich star. The planet's radius, determined by photometry, is remarkably small compared to other known transiting planets, with a heavy-element core that apparently comprises ~70% of the total planet mass. Time-series spectra were obtained at Keck before and during transit in order to model the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. Here we make use of these observations to carry out a differential comparison of spectra obtained in and out of transit to search for signatures of neutral atomic lithium and potassium from the planet atmos…
We report that a Jupiter-mass planet, WASP-7b, transits the V = 9.5 star HD197286 every 4.95 d. This is the brightest discovery from the WASP-South transit survey and the brightest transiting-exoplanet system in the Southern hemisphere. WASP-7b is among the densest of the known Jupiter-mass planets, suggesting that it has a massive core. The planet mass is 0.96 M_Jup, the radius 0.915 R_Jup, and the density 1.26 rho_Jup.
We report a measurement of the Rossiter--McLaughlin effect in the transiting extrasolar planetary system TrES-1, via simultaneous spectroscopic and photometric observations with the Subaru and MAGNUM telescopes. By modeling the radial velocity anomaly that was observed during a transit, we determine the sky-projected angle between the stellar spin axis and the planetary orbital axis to be $λ= 30 \pm 21$ [deg]. This is the third case for which $λ$ has been measured in a transiting exoplanetary system, and the first demonstration that such measurements are possible for relatively faint host star…
We have measured the angular diameter of the transiting extrasolar planet host star HD 189733 using the CHARA O/IR interferometric array. Combining our new angular diameter of 0.377+/-0.024 mas with the Hipparcos parallax leads to a linear radius for the host star of 0.779+/-0.052 Rsol and a radius for the planet of 1.19+/-0.08 RJup. Adopting the mass of the planet as derived by its discoverers, we derive a mean density of the planet of 0.91+/-0.18 g cm-3. This is the first determination of the diameter of an extrasolar planet through purely direct means.
Among the 160 known exoplanets, mainly detected in large radial-velocity surveys, only 8 have a characterization of their actual mass and radius thanks to the two complementary methods of detection: radial velocities and photometric transit. We started in March 2004 an exoplanet-search programme biased toward high-metallicity stars which are more frequently host extra-solar planets. This survey aims to detect close-in giant planets, which are most likely to transit their host star. For this programme, high-precision radial velocities are measured with the ELODIE fiber-fed spectrograph on the 1…
The satellite COROT will search for close-in exo-planets around a few thousand stars using the transit search method. The COROT mission holds the promise of detecting numerous exo-planets. Together with radial velocity follow-up observations, the masses of the detected planets will be known. We have devised a method for predicting the expected planetary populations and compared it to the already known exo-planets. Our method works by looking at all hydrostatic envelope solutions of giant gas planets that could possibly exist in arbitrary planetary nebulae and comparing the relative abundance o…
The discovery of over 200 extrasolar planets with the radial velocity (RV) technique has revealed that many giant planets have large eccentricities, in striking contrast with most of the planets in the solar system and prior theories of planet formation. The realization that many giant planets have large eccentricities raises a fundamental question: ``Do terrestrial-size planets of other stars typically have significantly eccentric orbits or nearly circular orbits like the Earth?'' Here, we demonstrate that photometric observations of transiting planets could be used to characterize the orbita…
