We confirm the planetary nature of Kepler-539b (aka Kepler object of interest K00372.01), a giant transiting exoplanet orbiting a solar-analogue G2 V star. The mass of Kepler-539b was accurately derived thanks to a series of precise radial velocity measurements obtained with the CAFE spectrograph mounted on the CAHA 2.2m telescope. A simultaneous fit of the radial-velocity data and Kepler photometry revealed that Kepler-539b is a dense Jupiter-like planet with a mass of Mp = 0.97 Mjup and a radius of Rp = 0.747 Rjup, making a complete circular revolution around its parent star in 125.6 days. The semi-major axis of the orbit is roughly 0.5 au, implying that the planet is at roughly 0.45 au from the habitable zone. By analysing the mid-transit times of the 12 transit events of Kepler-539b recorded by the Kepler spacecraft, we found a clear modulated transit time variation (TTV), which is attributable to the presence of a planet c in a wider orbit. The few timings available do not allow us to precisely estimate the properties of Kepler-539c and our analysis suggests that it has a mass between 1.2 and 3.6 Mjup, revolving on a very eccentric orbit (0.4<e<0.6) with a period larger than 1000 days. The high eccentricity of planet c is the probable cause of the TTV modulation of planet b. The analysis of the CAFE spectra revealed a relatively high photospheric lithium content, A(Li)=2.48 dex, which, together with both a gyrochronological and isochronal analysis, suggests that the parent star is relatively young.
Detections of massive extrasolar moons are shown feasible with the Kepler space telescope. Kepler's findings of about 50 exoplanets in the stellar habitable zone naturally make us wonder about the habitability of their hypothetical moons. Illumination from the planet, eclipses, tidal heating, and tidal locking distinguish remote characterization of exomoons from that of exoplanets. We show how evaluation of an exomoon's habitability is possible based on the parameters accessible by current and near-future technology.
In this study, we expand the discussion of extrasolar planetary research by proposing a new approach to detecting extrasolar moons using Kepler (K2) light curves. We shaped this investigation by comparing transit light curve data of ~5000 main-sequence stars cataloged in the NASA Exoplanet Archive, the Radio Galaxy Zoo Exoplanet Explorers and the Exoplanet Follow Up Observing Program, which served as the repository to collect and analyze supplementary K2 data. By examining K2 light curves, various characteristics related to transits were modeled, which we then compared with confirmed extrasola…
We define and analyze the photometric orbit (PhO) of an extrasolar planet observed in reflected light. In our definition, the PhO is a Keplerian entity with six parameters: semimajor axis, eccentricity, mean anomaly at some particular time, argument of periastron, inclination angle, and effective radius, which is the square root of the geometric albedo times the planetary radius. Preliminarily, we assume a Lambertian phase function. We study in detail the case of short-period giant planets (SPGPs) and observational parameters relevant to the Kepler mission: 20 ppm photometry with normal errors…
Currently, over forty transiting planets have been discovered by ground-based photometric surveys, and space-based missions like Kepler and CoRoT are expected to detect hundreds more. Follow-up photometric observations from the ground will play an important role in constraining both orbital and physical parameters for newly discovered planets, especially those with small radii (R_p less than approximately 4 Earth radii) and/or intermediate to long orbital periods (P greater than approximately 30 days). Here, we simulate transit light curves from Kepler-like photometry and ground-based observat…
The Kepler Mission has detected dozens of compact planetary systems with more than four transiting planets. This sample provides a collection of close-packed planetary systems with relatively little spread in the inclination angles of the inferred orbits. A large fraction of the observational sample contains limited multiplicity, begging the question whether there is a true diversity of multi transiting systems, or if some systems merely possess high mutual inclinations, allowing them to appear as single-transiting systems in a transit-based survey. This paper begins an exploration of the effe…
We present an IDL graphical user interface-driven software package designed for the analysis of extrasolar planet transit light curves. The Transit Analysis Package (TAP) software uses Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to fit light curves using the analytic model of Mandel and Agol (2002). The package incorporates a wavelet based likelihood function developed by Carter and Winn (2009) which allows the MCMC to assess parameter uncertainties more robustly than classic chi-squared methods by parameterizing uncorrelated "white" and correlated "red" noise. The software is able to simultane…
In the frame of the search for extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs around early-type main-sequence stars, we present the detection of a giant planet around the young F-type star HD113337. We estimated the age of the system to be 150 +100/-50 Myr. Interestingly, an IR excess attributed to a cold debris disk was previously detected on this star. The SOPHIE spectrograph on the 1.93m telescope at Observatoire de Haute-Provence was used to obtain ~300 spectra over 6 years. We used our SAFIR tool, dedicated to the spectra analysis of A and F stars, to derive the radial velocity variations. The data …
Numerous telescopes and techniques have been used to find and study extrasolar planets, but none has been more successful than NASA's Kepler Space Telescope. Kepler has discovered the majority of known exoplanets, the smallest planets to orbit normal stars, and the worlds most likely to be similar to our home planet. Most importantly, Kepler has provided our first look at typical characteristics of planets and planetary systems for planets with sizes as small as and orbits as large as those of the Earth.
I calculate the physical properties of 32 transiting extrasolar planet and brown dwarf systems from existing photometric observations and measured spectroscopic parameters. The systems studied include fifteen observed by CoRoT, ten by Kepler and five by the Deep Impact spacecraft. Inclusion of the objects studied in previous papers leads to a sample of 58 transiting systems with homogeneously measured properties. The Kepler data include observations from Quarter 2, and my analyses of several of the systems are the first to be based on short-cadence data from this satellite. The light curves ar…
The spin-rotation of a planet arises from the accretion of angular momentum during its formation, but the details of this process are still unclear. In the solar system, the equatorial rotation velocities and spin angular momentum of the planets show a clear trend with mass, except for Mercury and Venus which have significantly spun down since their formation due to tidal interactions. Here we report on near-infrared spectroscopic observations at R=100,000 of the young extra-solar gas giant beta Pictoris b. The absorption signal from carbon monoxide in the planet's thermal spectrum is found to…
Despite years of high accuracy observations, none of the available theoretical techniques has yet allowed the confirmation of a moon beyond the solar system. Methods are currently limited to masses about an order of magnitude higher than the mass of any moon in the solar system. I here present a new method sensitive to exomoons similar to the known moons. Due to the projection of transiting exomoon orbits onto the celestial plane, satellites appear more often at larger separations from their planet. After about a dozen randomly sampled observations, a photometric orbital sampling effect (OSE) …
I measure the physical properties of 38 transiting extrasolar planetary systems, bringing the total number studied within the Homogeneous Studies project to 82. Transit light curves are modelled using JKTEBOP, with careful attention paid to limb darkening, eccentricity and third light. The physical properties of each system are obtained from the photometric parameters, published spectroscopic measurements and five sets of theoretical stellar model predictions. Statistical errors are assessed using Monte Carlo and residual-permutation algorithms and propagated via a perturbation algorithm. Syst…
Many extrasolar systems possessing planets in mean-motion resonance or resonant chain have been discovered to date. The transit method coupled with transit timing variation analysis provides an insight into the physical and orbital parameters of the systems, but suffers from observational limitations. When a (near-)resonant planetary system resides in the dynamical neighbourhood of a stable periodic orbit, its long-term stability, and thus survival, can be guaranteed. We use the intrinsic property of the periodic orbits, namely their linear horizontal and vertical stability, to validate or fur…
A large fraction of the smallest transiting planet candidates discovered by the Kepler and CoRoT space missions cannot be confirmed by a dynamical measurement of the mass using currently available observing facilities. To establish their planetary nature, the concept of planet validation has been advanced. This technique compares the probability of the planetary hypothesis against that of all reasonably conceivable alternative false-positive (FP) hypotheses. The candidate is considered as validated if the posterior probability of the planetary hypothesis is sufficiently larger than the sum of …
Magnetic stellar activity of exoplanet hosts can lead to the production of large amounts of high-energy emission, which irradiates extrasolar planets, located in the immediate vicinity of such stars. This radiation is absorbed in the planets' upper atmospheres, which consequently heat up and evaporate, possibly leading to an irradiation-induced mass-loss. We present a study of the high-energy emission in the four magnetically active planet-bearing host stars Kepler-63, Kepler-210, WASP-19, and HAT-P-11, based on new XMM-Newton observations. We find that the X-ray luminosities of these stars ar…
Motivated by the large number of compact extrasolar planetary systems discovered by the Kepler Mission, this paper considers perturbations due to possible additional outer planets. The discovered compact systems sometimes contain multiple transiting planets, so that their orbital angular momentum vectors are tightly aligned. Since planetary orbits are susceptible to forced oscillations of their inclination angles, the highly aligned nature of these systems places constraints on possible additional (non-transiting) planets. If planets in the outer regions of these solar systems have sufficientl…
Beyond Earth-like planets, moons can be habitable, too. No exomoons have been securely detected, but they could be extremely abundant. Young Jovian planets can be as hot as late M stars, with effective temperatures of up to 2000 K. Transits of their moons might be detectable in their infrared photometric light curves if the planets are sufficiently separated ($\gtrsim10$ AU) from the stars to be directly imaged. The moons will be heated by radiation from their young planets and potentially by tidal friction. Although stellar illumination will be weak beyond 5 AU, these alternative energy sourc…
Two decades ago, empirical evidence concerning the existence and frequency of planets around stars, other than our own, was absent. Since this time, the detection of extrasolar planets from Jupiter-sized to most recently Earth-sized worlds has blossomed and we are finally able to shed light on the plurality of Earth-like, habitable planets in the cosmos. Extrasolar moons may also be frequent habitable worlds but their detection or even systematic pursuit remains lacking in the current literature. Here, we present a description of the first systematic search for extrasolar moons as part of a ne…
Data from the Kepler satellite (Q0-Q11) are used to study HAT-P-7. The satellite's data are extremely valuable for asteroseismic studies of stars and for observing planetary transits; in this work we do both. An asteroseismic study of the host star improves the accuracy of the stellar parameters derived by Christensen-Dalsgaard et al. (2010), who followed largely the same procedure but based the analysis on only one month of Kepler data. The stellar information is combined with transit observations, phase variations and occultations to derive planetary parameters. In particular, we confirm the…
The Kepler Mission recently identified 997 systems hosting candidate extrasolar planets, many of which are super-Earths. Realizing these planetary systems are candidates to host extrasolar asteroid belts, we use mid-infrared data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to search for emission from dust in these systems. We find excesses around eight stars, indicating the presence of warm to hot dust (~100-500 K), corresponding to orbital distances of 0.1-10 AU for these solar-type stars. The strongest detection, KOI 1099, demands ~500 K dust interior to the orbit of its exoplanet ca…
We obtained J-, H- and JH-band photometry of known extrasolar planet transiting systems at the 2.1-m Kitt Peak National Observatory Telescope using the FLAMINGOS infrared camera between October 2008 and October 2011. From the derived lightcurves we have extracted the mid-transit times, transit depths and transit durations for these events. The precise mid-transit times obtained help improve the orbital periods and also constrain transit-time variations of the systems. For most cases the published system parameters successfully accounted for our observed lightcurves, but in some instances we de…
On June 15, 2009 UT the transit of TrES-2b was detected using the University of Arizona's 1.55 meter Kuiper Telescope with 2.0-2.5 millimag RMS accuracy in the I-band. We find a central transit time of $T_c = 2454997.76286 \pm0.00035$ HJD, an orbital period of $P = 2.4706127 \pm 0.0000009$ days, and an inclination angle of $i = 83^{\circ}.92 \pm 0.05$, which is consistent with our re-fit of the original I-band light curve of O'Donovan et al. (2006) where we find $i = 83^{\circ}.84 \pm0.05$. We calculate an insignificant inclination change of $Δi = -0^{\circ}.08 \pm 0.07$ over the last 3 years,…
Since the discovery of a planet transiting its host star in the year 2000, thousands of additional exoplanets and exoplanet candidates have been detected, mostly by NASA's Kepler space telescope. Some of them are almost as small as the Earth's moon. As the solar system is teeming with moons, more than a hundred of which are in orbit around the eight local planets, and with all of the local giant planets showing complex ring systems, astronomers have naturally started to search for moons and rings around exoplanets in the past few years. We here discuss the principles of the observational metho…
This white paper discusses a repurposed mission for the Kepler spacecraft that focusses on solving outstanding problems in planet formation and evolution by targeting the study of the hot Jupiter population of young stars. This mission can solve the question of the mode of migration of hot Jupiters, address the problem of whether Jupiters form by hot-start (gravitational instability) or cold-start (core accretion) mechanisms, and provide a wealth of data on the early stages of planetary system evolution during the active phases of stars which impact planetary habitability. In one year of obser…
We use 16 quarters of the \textit{Kepler} mission data to analyze the transit timing variations (TTVs) of the extrasolar planet Kepler-46b (KOI-872). Our dynamical fits confirm that the TTVs of this planet (period $P=33.648^{+0.004}_{-0.005}$ days) are produced by a non-transiting planet Kepler-46c ($P=57.325^{+0.116}_{-0.098}$ days). The Bayesian inference tool \texttt{MultiNest} is used to infer the dynamical parameters of Kepler-46b and Kepler-46c. We find that the two planets have nearly coplanar and circular orbits, with eccentricities $\simeq 0.03$ somewhat higher than previously estimat…
In this paper, we present our HARPS radial-velocity data for eight low-activity solar-type stars belonging to the HARPS volume-limited sample: HD6718, HD8535, HD28254, HD290327, HD43197, HD44219, HD148156, and HD156411. Keplerian fits to these data reveal the presence of low-mass companions around these targets. With minimum masses ranging from 0.58 to 2.54 MJup, these companions are in the planetary mass domain. The orbital periods of these planets range from slightly less than one to almost seven years. The eight orbits presented in this paper exhibit a wide variety of eccentricities: from 0…
Trojans are circumstellar bodies that reside in characteristic 1:1 orbital resonances with planets. While all the trojans in our Solar System are small (< ~100 km), stable planet-size trojans may exist in extrasolar planetary systems, and the Kepler telescope constitutes a formidable tool to search for them. Here we report on a systematic search for extrasolar trojan companions to 2244 known Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), with epicyclic orbital characteristics similar to those of the Jovian trojan families. No convincing trojan candidates are found, despite a typical sensitivity down to Ea…
Radio wavelength astrometry of stars and other objects has a long and productive history. The use of that technique to determine whether stars have planets around them would cover a nearly unique part of the parameter space for detection of those systems. Namely, astrometric observations are most sensitive to systems with large planets in moderately wide orbits (a few to ~10 AU), because it is those systems that produce large reflex motion of the star, in a short enough measurement period (years to tens of years). In addition, astrometric observations are most sensitive to systems which are ne…
Exomoons represent a crucial missing puzzle piece in our efforts to understand extrasolar planetary systems. To address this deficiency, we here describe an exomoon survey of 70 cool, giant transiting exoplanet candidates found by Kepler. We identify only one which exhibits a moon-like signal that passes a battery of vetting tests: Kepler-1708 b. We show that Kepler-1708 b is a statistically validated Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a Sun-like quiescent star at ~1.6AU. The signal of the exomoon candidate, Kepler-1708 b-i, is a 4.8-sigma effect and is persistent across different instrumental detr…
The orbital sampling effect (OSE) appears in phase-folded transit light curves of extrasolar planets with moons. Analytical OSE models have hitherto neglected stellar limb darkening and non-zero transit impact parameters and assumed that the moon is on a circular, co-planar orbit around the planet. Here, we present an analytical OSE model for eccentric moon orbits, which we implement in a numerical simulator with stellar limb darkening that allows for arbitrary transit impact parameters. We also describe and publicly release a fully numerical OSE simulator (PyOSE) that can model arbitrary incl…
It has been observed that hot Jupiters located within 0.08 AU of their host stars commonly display radii in excess of those expected based on models. A number of theoretical explanations for this phenomenon have been suggested, but the ability of any one mechanism to account for the full range of observations remains to be rigorously proven. I identify an additional heating mechanism, arising from the interaction of the interplanetary magnetic field and the planetary magnetosphere, and show that this is capable of providing enough energy to explain the observed planetary radii. Such a model pr…
A new theoretical hypothesis on the origin and formation of the solar and extrasolar planetary systems is summarized and briefly discussed in the light of recent detections of extrasolar planets, and studies of shock wave interaction with molecular clouds, as well as H. Alfven's work on Sun's magnetic field and its effect on the formation of the solar system (1962). We propose that all objects in a planetary system originate from a small group of dense fragments in a giant molecular cloud (GMC). The mechanism of one or more shock waves, which propagate through the protoplanetary disk during th…
We discuss the nature of rings that may exist around extrasolar planets. Taking the general properties of rings around the gas giants in the Solar System, we infer the likely properties of rings around exoplanets that reside inside the ice line. Due to their proximity to their host star, rings around such exoplanets must primarily consist of rocky materials. However, we find that despite the higher densities of rock compared to ice, most of the observed extrasolar planets with reliable radii measurements have sufficiently large Roche radii to support rings. For the currently known transiting e…
We provide a preliminary estimate of the performance of reflex astrometry on Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. In Monte Carlo experiments, we analyze large samples of astrometric data sets with low to moderate signal-to-noise ratios. We treat the idealized case of a single planet orbiting a single star, and assume there are no non-Keplerian complications or uncertainties. The real case can only be more difficult. We use periodograms for discovery and least-squares fits for estimating the Keplerian parameters. We find a completeness for detection compatible with estimat…
The chemical composition of stars hosting small exoplanets (with radii less than four Earth radii) appears to be more diverse than that of gas-giant hosts, which tend to be metal-rich. This implies that small, including Earth-size, planets may have readily formed at earlier epochs in the Universe's history when metals were more scarce. We report Kepler spacecraft observations of Kepler-444, a metal-poor Sun-like star from the old population of the Galactic thick disk and the host to a compact system of five transiting planets with sizes between those of Mercury and Venus. We validate this syst…
The Kepler object KOI 2700b (KIC 8639908b) was discovered recently as the second exoplanet with a comet-like tail. It exhibits a distinctly asymmetric transit profile, likely indicative of the emission of dusty effluents and reminiscent of KIC 12557548b, the first exoplanet with a comet-like tail.The scientific goal of this work is to verify the disintegrating-planet scenario of KOI 2700b by modeling its light curve and to put constraints on various tail and planet properties, as was done in the case of KIC 12557548b. We obtained the phase-folded and binned transit light curve of KOI 2700b, wh…
Over the course of the last two decades, traditional models of planet formation have been repeatedly challenged by the emerging census of extrasolar planets. Key among them is the orbital architecture problem: while standard models of orbital migration predict resonant orbits for short-period objects, most planets do not appear to lie in orbital resonances. Here we show that the four-planet system Kepler-221, not previously recognized to have active orbital resonances, has a three-body commensurability relation unique within the Kepler sample. Using a suite of numerical experiments as well as …
We investigate a possible correlation between the solid surface density $Σ$ of the minimum-mass extrasolar nebulae (MMEN) and the host star mass $M_\star$ and metallicity [Fe/H]. Leveraging on the precise host star properties from the California-{\it Kepler}-Survey (CKS), we found that $Σ=$ 50^{+33}_{-20} \rm{~g~cm}^{-2} $(a/1AU)^{-1.75\pm0.07}$ $(M_\star/M_\odot)^{1.04\pm0.22}$ $10^{0.22\pm0.05{\rm [Fe/H]}}$ for {\it Kepler}-like systems (1-4$R_\oplus$; $a<$1AU). The strong $M_\star$ dependence is reminiscent of previous dust continuum results that the solid disk mass scales with $M_\star$. T…
The detection and characterization of Earth-like planet is approaching rapidly thanks to radial velocity surveys (HARPS), transit searches (Corot, Kepler) and space observatories dedicated to their characterization are already in development phase (James Webb Space Telescope), large ground based telescopes (ELT, TNT, GMT), and dedicated space-based missions like Darwin, Terrestrial Planet Finder, New World Observer). In this paper we discuss how we can read a planets spectrum to assess its habitability and search for the signatures of a biosphere. Identifying signs of life implies understandin…
Young planets provide a window into the early stages and evolution of planetary systems. Ideal planets for such research are in coeval associations, where the parent population can precisely determine their ages. We describe a young association (MELANGE-3) in the Kepler field, which harbors two transiting planetary systems (Kepler-1928 and Kepler-970). We identify MELANGE-3 by searching for kinematic and spatial overdensities around Kepler planet hosts with high levels of lithium. To determine the age and membership of MELANGE-3, we combine new high-resolution spectra with archival light curve…
We report the discovery and confirmation of Kepler-7b, a transiting planet with unusually low density. The mass is less than half that of Jupiter, Mp = 0.43 Mj, but the radius is fifty percent larger, Rp = 1.48 Rj. The resulting density, 0.17 g/cc, is the second lowest reported so far for an extrasolar planet. The orbital period is fairly long, P = 4.886 days, and the host star is not much hotter than the Sun, Teff = 6000 K. However, it is more massive and considerably larger than the sun, Mstar = 1.35 Msun and Rstar = 1.84 Rsun, and must be near the end of its life on the Main Sequence.
We present the discovery and characterization of a giant planet orbiting the young Sun-like star Kepler-63 (KOI-63, $m_{\rm Kp} = 11.6$, $T_{\rm eff} = 5576$ K, $M_\star = 0.98\, M_\odot$). The planet transits every 9.43 days, with apparent depth variations and brightening anomalies caused by large starspots. The planet's radius is $6.1 \pm 0.2 R_{\earth}$, based on the transit light curve and the estimated stellar parameters. The planet's mass could not be measured with the existing radial-velocity data, due to the high level of stellar activity, but if we assume a circular orbit we can place…
The exquisite photometric precision of the Kepler space telescope now puts the detection of extrasolar moons at the horizon. Here, we firstly review observational and analytical techniques that have recently been proposed to find exomoons. Secondly, we discuss the prospects of characterizing potentially habitable extrasolar satellites. With moons being much more numerous than planets in the solar system and with most exoplanets found in the stellar habitable zone being gas giants, habitable moons could be as abundant as habitable planets. However, satellites orbiting planets in the habitable z…
We describe the discovery of a bright, young Kuiper belt-like debris disk around HD 115600, a $\sim$ 1.4--1.5 M$_\mathrm{\odot}$, $\sim$ 15 Myr old member of the Sco-Cen OB Association. Our H-band coronagraphy/integral field spectroscopy from the \textit{Gemini Planet Imager} shows the ring has a (luminosity scaled) semi major axis of ($\sim$ 22 AU) $\sim$ 48 AU, similar to the current Kuiper belt. The disk appears to have neutral scattering dust, is eccentric (e $\sim$ 0.1--0.2), and could be sculpted by analogues to the outer solar system planets. Spectroscopy of the disk ansae reveal a slig…
Since the launch of Kepler and Hubble more than a decade ago, we have come a long way in the quest to find a potentially habitable exoplanet. To date, we have already discovered more than 4000 exoplanets most of which are not suitable for sustaining life. Of all those that can potentially sustain life, A large number has been found rotating synchronously around their parent star, mostly Red dwarf star. Due to their synchronous rotation, these planets receive very uneven stellar heating. Synchronous rotation of these planets causes one side of the planet to permanently face the parent star whil…
An object with a very peculiar light-curve was discovered recently using Kepler data. Authors argue that this object may be a transiting disintegrating planet with a comet like dusty tail. We calculate the light-curves of stars with such planets and take into account the Mie absorption and scattering on spherical dust grains of various sizes assuming realistic dust opacities and phase functions and finite radius of the source of the scattered light. The planet light-curve is reanalysed using long and short cadence Kepler observations from the first 14 quarters. Orbital period of the planet was…
The lithium doublet at 6708 Å provides an age diagnostic for main sequence FGK dwarfs. We measured the abundance of lithium in 1305 stars with detected transiting planets from the Kepler Mission using high-resolution spectroscopy. Our catalog of lithium measurements from this sample have a range of abundance from A(Li) = 3.11 $\pm$ 0.07 to an upper limit of $-$0.84 dex. For a magnitude-limited sample that comprises 960 of the 1305 stars, our Keck-HIRES spectra have a median S/N = 45 per pixel at $\sim$6700 Å with spectral resolution $\fracλ{Δλ}$ = $R$ = 55,000. We identify 80 young stars that …
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…
We report the first extrasolar planet observations from the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), currently the world's largest, fully steerable, single-aperture optical telescope. We used the OSIRIS tunable filter imager on the GTC to acquire high-precision, narrow-band photometry of the transits of the giant exoplanets, TrES-2b and TrES-3b. We obtained near-simultaneous observations in two near-infrared (NIR) wavebands (790.2 and 794.4 +/- 2.0 nm) specifically chosen to avoid water vapor absorption and skyglow so as to minimize the atmospheric effects that often limit the precision of groun…
A commonly noted feature of the population of multi-planet extrasolar systems is the rarity of planet pairs in low-order mean-motion resonances. We revisit the physics of resonance capture via convergent disk-driven migration. We point out that for planet spacings typical of stable configurations for Kepler systems, the planets can routinely maintain a small but nonzero eccentricity due to gravitational perturbations from their neighbors. Together with the upper limit on the migration rate needed for capture, the finite eccentricity can make resonance capture difficult or impossible in Sun-lik…
We discuss the detectability of gravitationally bounded pairs of gas-giant planets (which we call "binary planets") in extrasolar planetary systems that are formed through orbital instability followed by planet-planet dynamical tides during their close encounters, based on the results of N-body simulations by Ochiai, Nagasawa and Ida (Paper I). Paper I showed that the formation probability of a binary is as much as $\sim 10\%$ for three giant planet systems that undergo orbital instability, and after post-capture long-term tidal evolution, the typical binary separation is 3--5 times the sum of…
We consider a spherically symmetric and asymptotically flat vacuum solution of the Horava-Lifshitz (HL) gravity that is the analog of the general relativistic Schwarzschild black hole. In the weak-field and slow-motion approximation, we work out the correction to the third Kepler law of a test particle induced by such a solution and compare it to the phenomenologically determined orbital period of the transiting extrasolar planet HD209458b Osiris to preliminarily obtain an order-of-magnitude lower bound on the KS dimensionless parameter ω_0 >= 1.4\times 10^-18. As suggestions for further analy…
We present families of symmetric and asymmetric periodic orbits at the 1/1 resonance, for a planetary system consisting of a star and two small bodies, in comparison to the star, moving in the same plane under their mutual gravitational attraction. The stable 1/1 resonant periodic orbits belong to a family which has a planetary branch, with the two planets moving in nearly Keplerian orbits with non zero eccentricities and a satellite branch, where the gravitational interaction between the two planets dominates the attraction from the star and the two planets form a close binary which revolves …
Transiting exoplanets provide unparalleled access to the fundamental parameters of both extrasolar planets and their host stars. We present limb-darkening coefficients (LDCs) for the exoplanet hunting CoRot and Kepler missions. The LDCs are calculated with ATLAS stellar atmospheric model grids and span a wide range of Teff, log g, and metallically [M/H]. Both CoRot and Kepler contain wide, nonstandard response functions, and are producing a large inventory of high-quality transiting lightcurves, sensitive to stellar limb darkening. Comparing the stellar model limb darkening to results from the…
A search for extrasolar planetary transits using the extended Kepler mission (K2) campaigns 9 and 11 revealed five new candidates towards the Galactic bulge. The stars EPIC 224439122, 224560837, 227560005, 230778501 and 231635524 are found to have low amplitude transits consistent with extrasolar planets, with periods P = 35.1695, 3.6390, 12.4224, 17.9856, and 5.8824 days, respectively. The K2 data and existing optical photometry are combined with the multi-band near-IR photometry of the VVV survey and 2MASS in order to measure accurate physical parameters for the host stars. We then measure t…
Extrasolar planets that pass in front of their host star (transit) cause a temporary decrease in the apparent brightness of the star once per orbit, providing a direct measure of the planet's size and orbital period. In some systems with multiple transiting planets, the times of the transits are measurably affected by the gravitational interactions between neighbouring planets. In favorable cases, the departures from Keplerian orbits implied by the observed transit times permit planetary masses to be measured, which is key to determining bulk densities. Characterizing rocky planets is particul…
We present an analysis of 18 short-cadence (SC) transit lightcurves of TrES-2b using quarter 0 (Q0) and quarter 1 (Q1) from the Kepler Mission. The photometry is of unprecedented precision, 237ppm per minute, allowing for the most accurate determination of the transit parameters yet obtained for this system. Global fits of the transit photometry, radial velocities and known transit times are used to obtain a self-consistent set of refined parameters for this system, including updated stellar and planetary parameters. Special attention is paid to fitting for limb darkening and eccentricity. We …
