Transiting planet discoveries have yielded a plethora of information regarding the internal structure and atmospheres of extra-solar 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 mass-radius 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).
We have collected transit times for the TRAPPIST-1 system with the Spitzer Space Telescope over four years. We add to these ground-based, HST and K2 transit time measurements, and revisit an N-body dynamical analysis of the seven-planet system using our complete set of times from which we refine the mass ratios of the planets to the star. We next carry out a photodynamical analysis of the Spitzer light curves to derive the density of the host star and the planet densities. We find that all seven planets' densities may be described with a single rocky mass-radius relation which is depleted in i…
We determined new linear ephemerides of transiting exoplanets using long-cadence de-trended data from quarters Q1 to Q17 of Kepler mission. We analysed TTV diagrams of 2098 extrasolar planets. The TTVs of 121 objects were excluded (because of insufficient data-points, the influence of stellar activity, etc). Finally, new linear ephemerides of 1977 exoplanets from the Kepler archive are presented. The significant linear trend was observed on TTV diagrams of approximately 35% of studied exoplanets. Knowing correct linear ephemeris is principal for successful follow-up observations of transits. R…
Much of the science from the exoplanets detected by the TESS mission relies on precisely predicted transit times that are needed for many follow-up characterization studies. We investigate ephemeris deterioration for simulated TESS planets and find that the ephemerides of 81% of those will have expired (i.e. 1$σ$ mid-transit time uncertainties greater than 30 minutes) one year after their TESS observations. We verify these results using a sample of TESS planet candidates as well. In particular, of the simulated planets that would be recommended as JWST targets by Kempton et al. (2018), $\sim$8…
In 2015, K2 observations of the bright (V = 8.9, K = 7.7) star HIP 41378 revealed a rich system of at least five transiting exoplanets, ranging in size from super-Earths to gas giants. The 2015 K2 observations only spanned 74.8 days, and the outer three long-period planets in the system were only detected with a single transit, so their orbital periods and transit ephemerides could not be determined at that time. Here, we report on 50.8 days of new K2 observations of HIP 41378 from summer 2018. These data reveal additional transits of the long-period planets HIP 41378 d and HIP 41378 f, yieldi…
During the TESS prime mission, 74% of the sky area will only have an observational baseline of 27 days. For planets with orbital periods longer than 13.5 days, TESS can only capture one or two transits, and the planet ephemerides will be difficult to determine from TESS data alone. Follow-up observations of transits of these candidates will require precise ephemerides. We explore the use of existing ground-based wide-field photometric surveys to constrain the ephemerides of the TESS single-transit candidates, with a focus on the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) survey. We insert si…
ExoEcho: Exoplanet Ephemerides Change Observations. III. A JWST Survey for Transit Timing Variations of 37 Exoplanets
School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-sen University（中山大学物理学院）；CSST Science Center for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Great Bay Area, Sun Yat-sen University（中山大学粤港澳大湾区空间望远镜科学中心）
We present new transit observations acquired between 2014 and 2018 for the hot exoplanets GJ 436 b, HAT-P-3 b, HAT-P-19 b, WASP-3 b, and XO-2 b. New mid-transit times extend the timespan covered by observations of these exoplanets and allow us to refine their transit ephemerides. All new transits are consistent with linear ephemerides.
We provide a database of transit times and updated ephemerides for 382 planets based on data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and previously reported transit times which were scraped from the literature in a semi-automated fashion. In total, our database contains 8,667 transit timing measurements for 382 systems. About 240 planets in the catalog are hot Jupiters (i.e. planets with mass $>$0.3$M_{\rm Jup}$ and period $<$10 days) that have been observed by TESS. The new ephemerides are useful for scheduling follow-up observations and searching for long-term period chang…
V1298 Tau is a young (20-30 Myr) solar-mass K star hosting four transiting exoplanets with sizes between 0.5 - 0.9 $R_J$. Given the system's youth, it provides a unique opportunity to understand the evolution of planetary radii at different separations in the same stellar environment. V1298 Tau was originally observed 6 years ago during K2 Campaign 4. Now, V1298 Tau has been re-observed during the extended mission of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Here, we present new photometric observations of V1298 Tau from the 10-minute TESS Full-Frame Images. We use the TESS data to …
Based on the light an exoplanet blocks from its host star as it passes in front of it during a transit, the mid-transit time can be determined. Periodic variations in mid-transit times can indicate another planet's gravitational influence. We investigate 83 transits of TrES-1 b as observed from 6-inch telescopes in the MicroObservatory robotic telescope network. The EXOTIC data reduction pipeline is used to process these transits, fit transit models to light curves, and calculate transit midpoints. This paper details the methodology for analyzing transit timing variations (TTVs) and using tran…
Proxima Centauri has become the subject of intense study since the radial-velocity discovery by Anglada-Escudé et al. 2016 of a planet orbiting this nearby M-dwarf every ~ 11.2 days. If Proxima Centauri b transits its host star, independent confirmation of its existence is possible, and its mass and radius can be measured in units of the stellar host mass and radius. To date, there have been three independent claims of possible transit-like event detections in light curve observations obtained by the MOST satellite (in 2014-15), the BSST telescope in Antarctica (in 2016), and the Las Campanas …
CoRoT was the first space mission dedicated to exoplanet detection. Operational between 2007 and 2012, this mission discovered 37 transiting planets, including CoRoT-7b, the first terrestrial exoplanet with a measured size. The precision of the published transit ephemeris of most of these planets has been limited by the relative short durations of the CoRoT pointings, which implied a danger that the transits will become unobservable within a few years due to the uncertainty of their future transit epochs. Ground-based follow-up observations of the majority of the CoRoT planets have been publis…
The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS) conducts radial velocity and photometric monitoring of known exoplanets in order to refine planetary orbits and predictions of possible transit times. This effort is primarily directed towards planets not known to transit, but a small sample of our targets consist of known transiting systems. Here we present precision photometry for 6 WASP planets acquired during their transit windows. We perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis for each planet and combine these data with previous measurements to redetermine the period an…
We recover transits of WASP-18 b and WASP-33 b from Hipparcos (1989-1993) photometry. Marginal detections of HAT-P-56 b and HAT-P-2 b may be also present in the data. New ephemerides are fitted to WASP-18 b and WASP-33 b. A tentative (~1.3 sigma) orbital decay is measured for WASP-18 b, but the implied tidal quality factor (Q' ~ 5 x 10^5) is small and survival time (<10^6 years) is too short to be likely. No orbital decay is measured for WASP-33 b, and a limit of Q' > 2 x 10^5 is placed. For both planets, the uncertainties in published ephemerides appear underestimated: the uncertainty in the …
The Kepler-9 system harbors three known transiting planets. The system holds significant interest for several reasons. First, the outer two planets exhibit a period ratio that is close to a 2:1 orbital commensurability, with attendant dynamical consequences. Second, both planets lie in the planetary mass "desert" that is generally associated with the rapid gas agglomeration phase of the core accretion process. Third, there exist attractive prospects for accurately measuring both the sky-projected stellar spin-orbit angles as well as the mutual orbital inclination between the planets in the sys…
Studies of transiting extrasolar planets offer an unique opportunity to get to know the internal structure of those worlds. The transiting exoplanet XO-5 b was found to have an anomalously high Safronov number and surface gravity. Our aim was to refine parameters of this intriguing system and search for signs of transit timing variations. We gathered high-precision light curves of two transits of XO-5 b. Assuming three different limb darkening laws, we found the best-fitting model and redetermined parameters of the system, including planet-to-star radius ratio, impact parameter and central tim…
The role of Venus and Mercury transits is crucial to know the past history of the solar diameter. Through the W parameter, the logarithmic derivative of the radius with respect to the luminosity, the past values of the solar luminosity can be recovered. The black drop phenomenon affects the evaluation of the instants of internal and external contacts between the planetary disk and the solar limb. With these observed instants compared with the ephemerides the value of the solar diameter is recovered. The black drop and seeing effects are overcome with two fitting circles, to Venus and to the Su…
We present 127 new transit light curves for 39 hot Jupiter systems, obtained over the span of five years by two ground-based telescopes. A homogeneous analysis of these newly collected light curves together with archived spectroscopic, photometric, and Doppler velocimetric data using EXOFASTv2 leads to a significant improvement in the physical and orbital parameters of each system. All of our stellar radii are constrained to accuracies of better than 3\%. The planetary radii for 37 of our 39 targets are determined to accuracies of better than $5\%$. Compared to our results, the literature ecce…
Direct imaging of exoplanets presents both significant challenges and significant gains. The advantages primarily lie in receiving emitted and, with future instruments, reflected photons at phase angles not accessible by other techniques, enabling the potential for atmospheric studies and the detection of rotation and surface features. The challenges are numerous and include coronagraph development and achieving the necessary contrast ratio. Here, we address the specific challenge of determining epochs of maximum angular separation for the star and planet. We compute orbital ephemerides for kn…
In this paper we investigate systems previously identified to exhibit transit timing variations (TTVs) in Kepler data, with the goal of predicting the expected improvements to the mass and eccentricity constraints that will arise from combining Kepler data with future data from the TESS mission. We advocate for the use of the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence as a means to quantify improvements in the measured constraints. Compared to the original Kepler data, the TESS data will have a lower signal-to-noise ratio, rendering some of the planetary transits undetectable, and lowering the accuracy …
The detection of a super-Earth and three mini-Neptunes transiting the bright ($V$ = 9.2 mag) star HD 108236 (also known as TOI-1233) was recently reported on the basis of TESS and ground-based light curves. We perform a first characterisation of the HD 108236 planetary system through high-precision CHEOPS photometry and improve the transit ephemerides and system parameters. We characterise the host star through spectroscopic analysis and derive the radius with the infrared flux method. We constrain the stellar mass and age by combining the results obtained from two sets of stellar evolutionary…
Kepler-33 hosts five validated transiting planets ranging in period from 5 to 41 days. The planets are in nearly co-planar orbits and exhibit remarkably similar (appropriately scaled) transit durations indicative of similar impact parameters. The outer three planets have radii of $3.5\lesssim R_{\rm p}/R_\oplus\lesssim4.7$ and are closely-packed dynamically, and thus transit timing variations can be observed. Photodynamical analysis of transit timing variations provide $2σ$ upper bounds on the eccentricity of the orbiting planets (ranging from $<0.02$ to $<0.2$) and the mean density of the hos…
We present new transit light curves for planets in six extrasolar planetary systems. They were acquired with 0.4-2.2 m telescopes located in west Asia, Europe, and South America. When combined with literature data, they allowed us to redetermine system parameters in a homogeneous way. Our results for individual systems are in agreement with values reported in previous studies. We refined transit ephemerides and reduced uncertainties of orbital periods by a factor between 2 and 7. No sign of any variations in transit times was detected for the planets studied.
The JWST Search for Earth-Luna Analogs: Upper Limits on Exomoons and Refined Ephemerides for TOI 700 d and e
Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院卡弗里天体物理学与空间研究学院）；Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学天文与天体物理系）
We present transit photometry of three exoplanets, TrES-4b, HAT-P-3b, and WASP-12b, allowing for refined estimates of the systems' parameters. TrES-4b and WASP-12b were confirmed to be "bloated" planets, with radii of 1.706 +/- 0.056 R_Jup and 1.736 +/- 0.092 R_Jup, respectively. These planets are too large to be explained with standard models of gas giant planets. In contrast, HAT-P-3b has a radius of 0.827 +/- 0.055 R_Jup, smaller than a pure hydrogen-helium planet and indicative of a highly metal-enriched composition. Analyses of the transit timings revealed no significant departures from s…
We present four new light curves of transiting exoplanets WASP-1b and HAT-P-20b, observed within the TASTE (The Asiago Search for Transit timing variations of Exoplanets) project. We re-analyzed light curves from the literature in a homogeneous way, calculating a refined ephemeris and orbital-physical parameters for both objects. WASP-1b does not show any significant Transit Timing Variation signal at the 120 s-level. As for HAT-P-20b, we detected a deviation from our re-estimated linear ephemeris that could be ascribed to the presence of a perturber or, more probably, to a previously unnotice…
We observed Kepler-421 during the anticipated third transit of the snow-line exoplanet Kepler-421b in order to constrain the existence and extent of transit timing variations (TTVs). Previously, the Kepler Spacecraft only observed two transits of Kepler-421b leaving the planet's transit ephemeris unconstrained. Our visible light, time-series observations from the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope were designed to capture pre-transit baseline and the partial transit of Kepler-421b barring significant TTVs. We use the light curves to assess the probabilities of various transit models using b…
The coolest dwarf stars targeted by the Kepler Mission constitute a relatively small but scientifically valuable subset of the Kepler target stars, and provide a high-fidelity and nearby sample of transiting planetary systems. Using archival Kepler data spanning the entire primary mission we perform a uniform analysis to extract, confirm and characterize the transit signals discovered by the Kepler pipeline toward M-type dwarf stars. We recover all but two of the signals reported in a recent listing from the Exoplanet Archive resulting in 165 planet candidates associated with a sample of 106 l…
The Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) technique provides a powerful tool to detect additional planets in transiting exoplanetary systems. In this paper we show how transiting planets with significant TTVs can be systematically missed, or cataloged as false positives, by current transit search algorithms, unless they are in multi-transit systems. If the period of the TTVs, P_TTV, is longer than the time baseline of the observations and its amplitude, A_TTV, is larger than the timing precision limit of the data, transiting planet candidates are still detected, but with incorrect ephemerides. Ther…
A promising method to detect earth-sized exoplanets is the timing analysis of a known transit. The technique allows a search for variations in transit duration or center induced by the perturbation of a third body, e.g. a second planet or an exomoon. To this aim, TASTE (The Asiago Survey for Timing transit variations of Exoplanets) project will collect high-precision, short-cadence light curves for a selected sample of transits by using imaging differential photometry at the Asiago 1.82m telescope. The first light curves show that our project can already provide a competitive timing accuracy, …
We present and analyze 58 transit light curves of TrES-3b and 98 transit light curves of Qatar-1b observed by Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), plus two transit light curves of Qatar-1b observed by us using a ground-based 1.23\,m telescope. These light curves are combined with the best-quality light curves taken from the Exoplanet Transit Database (ETD) and literature. The precisely determined mid-transit times from these light curves enable us to obtain the refined orbital ephemerides with improved precision for both hot Jupiters. From the timing analysis, we find an indication fo…
We present new Spitzer transit observations of four K2 transiting sub-Neptunes: K2-36c, K2-79b, K2-167b, and K2-212b. We derive updated orbital ephemerides and radii for these planets based on a joint analysis of the Spitzer, TESS, and K2 photometry. We use the EVEREST pipeline to provide improved K2 photometry, by detrending instrumental noise and K2's pointing jitter. We used a pixel level decorrelation method on the Spitzer observations to reduce instrumental systematic effects. We modeled the effect of possible blended eclipsing binaries, seeking to validate these planets via the achromati…
The ExoClock project has been created with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the Ariel mission. It will achieve this by continuously monitoring and updating the ephemerides of Ariel candidates over an extended period, in order to produce a consistent catalogue of reliable and precise ephemerides. This work presents a homogenous catalogue of updated ephemerides for 450 planets, generated by the integration of $\sim$18000 data points from multiple sources. These sources include observations from ground-based telescopes (ExoClock network and ETD), mid-time values from the literature and lig…
A promising method for detecting earth-sized exoplanets is the timing analysis of a known transit. The technique allows a search for variations in either the transit duration or the center induced by the perturbation of a third body, e.g. a second planet or an exomoon. By applying this method, the TASTE (The Asiago Search for Transit Timing variations of Exoplanets) project will collect high-precision, short-cadence light curves for a selected sample of transits by using imaging differential photometry at the Asiago 1.82m telescope. The first light curves show that our project can achieve a co…
Observations of 43 complete transits of the hot Jupiter exoplanet HAT-P-32b using the MicroObservatory 0.15-m robotic telescope network covering a period of 7 years are presented. Compared with the most recent ephemeris for the system, the precision of the mid-transit times yielded a root-mean-square value from the predicted model of 3.0 min. The estimated system parameters based on EXOFAST modelling are broadly consistent with those of the default parameter values listed in the NASA Exoplanet Archive. An updated orbital period of 2.15000815 +/- 0.00000013 d and ephemeris of 2458881.71392 +/- …
Radial velocity (RV) surveys have detected hundreds of exoplanets through their gravitational interactions with their host stars. Some will be transiting, but most lack sufficient follow-up observations to confidently detect (or rule out) transits. We use published stellar, orbital, and planetary parameters to estimate the transit probabilities for nearly all exoplanets that have been discovered via the RV method. From these probabilities, we predict that $25.5^{+0.7}_{-0.7}$ of the known RV exoplanets should transit their host stars. This prediction is more than double the amount of RV exopla…
We present photometry of 4 transits of the exoplanet WASP-4b, each with a precision of approximately 500 ppm and a time sampling of 40-60s. We have used the data to refine the estimates of the system parameters and ephemerides. During two of the transits we observed a short-lived, low-amplitude anomaly that we interpret as the occultation of a starspot by the planet. We also find evidence for a pair of similar anomalies in previously published photometry. The recurrence of these anomalies suggests that the stellar rotation axis is nearly aligned with the orbital axis, or else the star spot wou…
The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) is a photometric survey for transiting exoplanets, consisting of twelve identical 0.2-m telescopes. We report a measurement of the transit of HD106315c using a novel observing mode in which multiple NGTS telescopes observed the same target with the aim of increasing the signal-to-noise. Combining the data allows the robust detection of the transit, which has a depth less than 0.1 per cent, rivalling the performance of much larger telescopes. We demonstrate the capability of NGTS to contribute to the follow-up of K2 and TESS discoveries using this obser…
Transit events of extrasolar planets offer a wealth of information for planetary characterization. However, for many known targets, the uncertainty of their predicted transit windows prohibits an accurate scheduling of follow-up observations. In this work, we refine the ephemerides of 21 Hot Jupiter exoplanets with the largest timing uncertainty. We collected 120 professional and amateur transit light curves of the targets of interest, observed with 0.3m to 2.2m telescopes, and analyzed them including the timing information of the planets discovery papers. In the case of WASP-117b, we measured…
Exoplanet research is now target rich with a wide diversity of systems making it difficult for high demand observatories to undertake follow up observations over extended periods of time. We investigate the effectiveness of using 0.4m-class telescopes for monitoring transiting hot Jupiters and their host stars. We consider two representative case studies: WASP-52b with 13 new transits, and HAT-P-23b with 17 new transits and concurrent photometric monitoring covering 78 days. We present updated system parameters and combine our new transit times with previously published results to calculate ne…
We report twelve new transit observations of the exoplanet WASP-4b from the Transit Monitoring in the South Project (TraMoS) project. These transits are combined with all previously published transit data for this planet to provide an improved radius measurement of Rp = 1.395 +- 0.022 Rjup and improved transit ephemerides. In a new homogeneous analysis in search for Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) we find no evidence of those with RMS amplitudes larger than 20 seconds over a 4-year time span. This lack of TTVs rules out the presence of additional planets in the system with masses larger than …
The GJ 581 system has been amply studied since its discovery in 2005: the number of known planets in the system has increased and their orbital parameters are among the most precisely determined for radial velocity detected exoplanets. We have acquired MOST space-based photometry during 2007 and 2009, with the aims of measuring the stellar variability and searching for transits of GJ 581e, respectively. We quantify our sensitivity to shallow transit signals using Monte Carlo simulations, and perform a transit search within the 3$σ$ transit windows corresponding to both the circular and Kepleri…
With an equilibrium temperature of 1200 K, TrES-1 is one of the coolest hot Jupiters observed by {\Spitzer}. It was also the first planet discovered by any transit survey and one of the first exoplanets from which thermal emission was directly observed. We analyzed all {\Spitzer} eclipse and transit data for TrES-1 and obtained its eclipse depths and brightness temperatures in the 3.6 {\micron} (0.083 % {\pm} 0.024 %, 1270 {\pm} 110 K), 4.5 {\micron} (0.094 % {\pm} 0.024 %, 1126 {\pm} 90 K), 5.8 {\micron} (0.162 % {\pm} 0.042 %, 1205 {\pm} 130 K), 8.0 {\micron} (0.213 % {\pm} 0.042 %, 1190 {\p…
Planets occur most frequently around cool dwarfs, but only a handful of specific examples are known to orbit the latest-type M stars. Using TESS photometry, we report the discovery of two planets transiting the low-mass star called LP 791-18 (identified by TESS as TOI 736). This star has spectral type M6V, effective temperature 2960 K, and radius 0.17 R_Sun, making it the third-coolest star known to host planets. The two planets straddle the radius gap seen for smaller exoplanets; they include a 1.1 R_Earth planet on a 0.95 day orbit and a 2.3 R_Earth planet on a 5 day orbit. Because the host …
Transiting planets around bright stars have allowed the detailed follow-up and characterization of exoplanets, such as the study of exoplanetary atmospheres. The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS) is refining the orbits of the known exoplanets to confirm or rule out both transit signatures and the presence of additional companions. Here we present results for the companion orbiting HD 114762 in an eccentric 84 day orbit. Radial velocity analysis performed on 19 years of Lick Observatory data constrain the uncertainty in the predicted time of mid-transit to ~5 hours, whi…
We report improved masses, radii, and densities for four planets in two bright M-dwarf systems, K2-3 and GJ3470, derived from a combination of new radial velocity and transit observations. Supplementing K2 photometry with follow-up Spitzer transit observations refined the transit ephemerides of K2-3 b, c, and d by over a factor of 10. We analyze ground-based photometry from the Evryscope and Fairborn Observatory to determine the characteristic stellar activity timescales for our Gaussian Process fit, including the stellar rotation period and activity region decay timescale. The stellar rotatio…
RV and TTV Measurements of Two Transiting Long-Period Giants around TOI-4600
Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Nanjing University（南京大学）；The University of New Mexico（新墨西哥大学）；University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）；University of Arizona（亚利桑那大学）；Peking University（北京大学）；Westlake University（西湖大学）
