Measuring the stellar rotation of one of the components in eclipsing binaries (EBs) or planetary systems is a challenging task. The difficulty is mainly due to the complexity of analyzing, in the same light curve, the signal from the stellar rotation mixed with the transit signal of a stellar or sub-stellar companion, like a brown dwarf or planet. There are many methods to correct the long-term trend of the light curve. However, the correction often erases the signal of the stellar rotation from spots crossing the visible stellar disk and other weaker signals like planets. In this work, we present the DiffeRencial flUx Method of cuTting Off biNariES (DRUM TONES) to identify the signal of the binary transits and disentangle it from stellar rotation planet signals. We present our technique with applications to EBs from CoRoT, Kepler, Kepler K2 and TESS missions. We also applied our method to simulated synthetic EB from the PLATO mission. Our method shows good agreement in the determination of stellar rotation periods for few observed targets from last space missions, as well it is naturally useful for future European missions, such as PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO).
In its long-duration observation phase, the PLATO satellite will observe two non-overlapping fields for a total of 4 yr. The exact duration of each pointing will be determined 2 yr before launch. Previous estimates of PLATO's yield of Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones (HZs) around solar-type stars ranged between 6 and 280. We use the PLATO Solar-like Light curve Simulator (PSLS) to simulate light curves with transiting planets around bright (m_V > 11) Sun-like stars at a cadence of 25 s, roughly representative of the >15,000 targets in PLATO's high-priority P1 sample (mostly F5-K7 dwa…
One of the main science motivations for the ESA PLAnetary Transit and Oscillations (PLATO) mission is to measure exoplanet transit radii with 3% precision. In addition to flares and starspots, stellar oscillations and granulation will enforce fundamental noise floors for transiting exoplanet radius measurements. We simulate light curves of Earth-sized exoplanets transiting continuum intensity images of the Sun taken by the HMI instrument aboard SDO to investigate the uncertainties introduced on the exoplanet radius measurements by stellar granulation and oscillations. After modeling the solar …
PlatoSim: An end-to-end PLATO camera simulator for modelling high-precision space-based photometry
KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；German Aerospace Center（德国航空航天中心）；Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CNRS（巴黎天文台、巴黎文理研究大学、索邦大学、巴黎西岱大学、法国国家科学研究中心）
The space mission PLATO will usher in a new era of exoplanetary science by expanding our current inventory of transiting systems and constraining host star ages, which are currently highly uncertain. This capability might allow PLATO to detect changes in planetary system architecture with time, particularly because planetary scattering due to Lagrange instability may be triggered long after the system was formed. Here, we utilize previously published instability timescale prescriptions to determine PLATO's capability to detect a trend of decreasing planet frequency with age for systems with eq…
We assess broadband color filters for the two fast cameras on the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations (PLATO) of stars space mission with respect to exoplanetary atmospheric characterization. We focus on Ultra Hot Jupiters and Hot Jupiters placed 25pc and 100pc away from the Earth and low mass low density planets placed 10pc and 25pc away. Our analysis takes as input literature values for the difference in transit depth between the broadband lower (500 to 675nm) wavelength interval (hereafter referred to as blue) and the upper (675-1125nm) broadband wavelength interval (hereafter referred to a…
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is focusing on relatively bright stars and has found thousands of planet candidates. However, mainly because of the low spatial resolution of its cameras ($\approx$ 21 arcsec/pixel), TESS is expected to detect several false positives (FPs); hence, vetting needs to be done. Here, we present a follow-up program of TESS candidates orbiting solar-analogue stars that are in the all-sky PLATO input catalogue. Using Gaia photometry and astrometry we built an absolute colour-magnitude diagram and isolated solar-analogue candidates' hosts. We performed a…
The PLATO satellite mission project is a next generation ESA Cosmic Vision satellite project dedicated to the detection of exo-planets and to asteroseismology of their host-stars using ultra-high precision photometry. The main goal of the PLATO mission is to provide a full statistical analysis of exo-planetary systems around stars that are bright and close enough for detailed follow-up studies. Many aspects concerning the design trade-off of a space-based instrument and its performance can best be tackled through realistic simulations of the expected observations. The complex interplay of vari…
We release the first grid of stellar limb-darkening coefficients (LDCs) and intensity profiles (IPs) computed by the consortium of the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO), the next medium-class (M3) mission under development by the European Space Agency (ESA) to be launched in 2026. We have performed spectral synthesis with \texttt{TurboSpectrum} on a grid of \texttt{MARCS} model atmospheres. Finally, we adopted \texttt{ExoTETHyS} to convolve the high-resolution spectra ($R=2\times10^5$) with the state-of-the-art response functions for all the PLATO cameras, and computed the L…
The PLATO field selection process III. Selection of the Prime Sample for the LOPS2 field
INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova（意大利国家天体物理研究所帕多瓦天文台）；Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attività Spaziali “Giuseppe Colombo” (CISAS), Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学空间研究与活动中心（CISAS））；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Galileo Galilei”, Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学伽利略·伽利雷物理与天文系）；INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma（意大利国家天体物理研究所罗马天文台）；SSDC-ASI（ASI SSDC）；INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania（意大利国家天体物理研究所卡塔尼亚天文台）；Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Weltraumforschung（德国航空航天中心空间研究所）
Context. The ESA PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) mission will search for terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of solar-type stars. Because of telemetry limitations, PLATO targets need to be pre-selected. Aims. In this paper, we present an all sky catalogue that will be fundamental to selecting the best PLATO fields and the most promising target stars, deriving their basic parameters, analysing the instrumental performances, and then planing and optimising follow-up observations. This catalogue also represents a valuable resource for the general definition of stellar s…
For the upcoming PLAnetary Transits and Oscillation of stars (PLATO) satellite mission, a large number of target stars are required to yield a statistically significant number of planet transits. Locating the centres of the long duration observational phase (LOP) fields closer to the Galactic plane will increase the target star numbers but also the astrophysical false positives (FPs) from blended eclipsing binary systems. We utilise the Binary Stellar Evolution and Population Synthesis (BiSEPS) code, to create a complete synthetic stellar and planetary population for the proposed southern LOP …
PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) is an ESA M-class satellite planned for launch by end 2026 and dedicated to the wide-field search of transiting planets around bright and nearby stars, with a strong focus on discovering habitable rocky planets hosted by solar-like stars. The choice of the fields to be pointed at is a crucial task since it has a direct impact on the scientific return of the mission. In this paper we describe and discuss the formal requirements and the key scientific prioritization criteria that have to be taken into account in the Long-duration Observation P…
While the solar system contains about 20 times more moons than planets, no moon has been confirmed around any of the thousands of extrasolar planets known so far. Tools for an uncomplicated identification of the most promising exomoon candidates could be beneficial to streamline follow-up studies.} Here we study three exomoon indicators that emerge if well-established planet-only models are fitted to a planet-moon transit light curve: transit timing variations (TTVs), transit duration variations (TDVs), and apparent planetary transit radius variations (TRVs). We re-evaluate under realistic con…
Variability classification of TESS targets in LOPS2, the first long-term pointing field of PLATO. Version 1 of the public variability catalogue
KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics & Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院卡弗里天体物理与空间研究所）；Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院天文研究所）；Newcastle University（纽卡斯尔大学）；University of Southern Queensland（南昆士兰大学）
The PLATO Input Catalogue of targets (tPIC) for the first Long Pointing Field
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania（意大利国家天体物理研究所-卡塔尼亚天文台）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Galileo Galilei”, Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学伽利略·伽利雷物理与天文系）；Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova（意大利国家天体物理研究所-帕多瓦天文台）；Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma（意大利国家天体物理研究所-罗马天文台）；Space Science Data Center - ASI（ASI空间数据中心）；Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo（意大利国家天体物理研究所-巴勒莫天文台）；Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attività Spaziali “Giuseppe Colombo” (CISAS), Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学朱塞佩·科洛莫太空研究与活动中心）；Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)（德国航空航天中心）
The increasing number of transiting exoplanets sparked a significant interest in discovering their moons. Most of the methods in the literature utilize timing analysis of the raw light curves. Here we propose a new approach for the direct detection of a moon in the transit light curves via the so called Scatter Peak. The essence of the method is the valuation of the local scatter in the folded light curves of many transits. We test the ability of this method with different simulations: Kepler "short cadence", Kepler "long cadence", ground-based millimagnitude photometry with 3-min cadence, and…
The detection of the first exoplanet paved the way into the era of transit photometry space missions with a revolutionary photometric precision that aim at discovering new exoplanetary systems around different types of stars. With this high precision, it is possible to derive very accurately the radii of exoplanets which is crucial for constraining their type and composition. However, it requires an accurate description of host stars, especially their center-to-limb variation of intensities (so called limb darkening) as it affects the planet-to-star radius ratio determination. We aim at improv…
In photometry, the short-timescale stellar variability ("flicker"), such as that caused by granulation and oscillations, can reach amplitudes comparable to the transit depth of Earth-sized planets and is correlated over the typical transit timescales. It can introduce systematic errors on the inferred planetary parameters when a small number of transits are observed. The objective of this paper is to characterize the statistical properties of this noise and quantify its impact on the inferred transit parameters. We used the extensive solar observations obtained with SoHO/VIRGO to characterize …
We investigate in this paper the astrophysical false-positive configuration in exoplanet-transit surveys that involves eclipsing binaries and giant planets which present only a secondary eclipse, as seen from the Earth. To test how an eclipsing binary configuration can mimic a planetary transit, we generate synthetic light curve of three examples of secondary-only eclipsing binary systems that we fit with a circular planetary model. Then, to evaluate its occurrence we model a population of binaries in double and triple system based on binary statistics and occurrence. We find that 0.061% +/- 0…
Inaccurate limb-darkening models can be a significant source of error in the analysis of the light curves for transiting exoplanet and eclipsing binary star systems. To test the accuracy of published limb-darkening models, I have compared limb-darkening profiles predicted by stellar atmosphere models to the limb-darkening profiles measured from high-quality light curves of 43 FGK-type stars in transiting exoplanet systems observed by the Kepler and TESS missions. The comparison is done using the parameters $h^{\prime}_1 = I_λ(\frac{2}{3})$ and $h^{\prime}_2 = h^{\prime}_1 - I_λ(\frac{1}{3})$, …
New discoveries of transiting extrasolar planets are reported weekly. Ground based surveys as well as space borne observatories like CoRoT and Kepler are responsible for filling the statistical voids of planets on distant stellar systems. I want to discuss the stellar activity and its impact on the discovery of extrasolar planets. Up to now the discovery of small rocky planets called "Super-Earths" like CoRoT-7b and Kepler-10b are the only exceptions. The question arises, why among over 500 detected and verified planets the amount of smaller planets is strikingly low. An explanation besides th…
New photometric space missions to detect and characterise transiting exoplanets are focusing on bright stars to obtain high cadence, high signal-to-noise light curves. Since these missions will be sensitive to stellar oscillations and granulation even for dwarf stars, they will be limited by stellar variability. We tested the performance of Gaussian process (GP) regression on the characterisation of transiting planets, and in particular to determine how many components of variability are necessary to describe high cadence, high signal-to-noise light curves expected from CHEOPS and PLATO. We fo…
