Related papers: Inverting Phase Functions to Map Exoplanets
Using 2 aspheric mirrors, it is possible to apodize a telescope beam without losing light or angular resolution: the output beam is produced by ``remapping'' the entrance beam to produce the desired light intensity distribution in a new…
Point source spectrophotometric ("single-point") light curves of Earth-like planets contain a surprising amount of information about the spatial features of those worlds. Spatially resolving these light curves is important for assessing…
Detecting light reflected off the dayside of an exoplanet in high-resolution spectroscopic data has proved to be a notoriously difficult endeavour. Despite several attempts, the faint signal has yet to be detected. We present a new effort…
We use a planetary albedo model to investigate variations in visible wavelength phase curves of exoplanets. The presence of clouds on these exoplanets significantly alters their planetary albedo spectra. We confirm that non-uniform cloud…
In order to completely eliminate, or greatly reduce the number of phase wraps in 2D wrapped phase map, Gdeisat et al. proposed an algorithm, which uses shifting the spectrum towards the origin. But the spectrum can be shifted only by an…
A first characterization of many exoplanets has recently been achieved by the observational determination of their radius. For some planets, a measurement of the luminosity has also been possible, with many more directly imaged planets…
The paper presents an algorithm for depth map estimation from the light field images in relatively small amount of time, using only single thread on CPU. The proposed method improves existing principle of line fitting in 4-dimensional light…
The ultra-precise photometric space satellite MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars) will provide the first opportunity to measure the albedos and scattered light curves from known short-period extrasolar planets. Due to the…
A microlensing exoplanet search is a unique method for finding planets orbiting distant stars. However, in the past, the method used to analyze microlensing data could not deal with complex lens systems. The number of lenses was limited…
We introduce a new machine learning based technique to detect exoplanets using the transit method. Machine learning and deep learning techniques have proven to be broadly applicable in various scientific research areas. We aim to exploit…
The precise derivation of transit depths from transit light curves is a key component for measuring exoplanet transit spectra, and henceforth for the study of exoplanet atmospheres. However, it is still deeply affected by various kinds of…
Although transit spectroscopy is a powerful method for studying the composition, thermal properties and dynamics of exoplanet atmospheres, only a few transiting terrestrial exoplanets will be close enough to allow significant transit…
As next-generation imaging instruments and interferometers search for planets closer to their stars, they must contend with increasing orbital motion and longer integration times. These compounding effects make it difficult to detect faint…
The number of known transiting exoplanets is rapidly increasing, which has recently inspired significant interest as to whether they can host a detectable moon. Although there has been no such example where the presence of a satellite was…
We present an efficient method for computing lightcurves of an elliptical source which is microlensed by a point mass. The amplification of an extended source involves a two-dimensional integral over its surface brightness distribution. We…
Characterizing the geometry of an object orbiting around a star from its transit light curve is a powerful tool to uncover various complex phenomena. This problem is inherently ill-posed, since similar or identical light curves can be…
Studying the albedos of the planets and moons of the Solar System dates back at least a century. Of particular interest is the relationship between the albedo measured at superior conjunction, known as the ``geometric albedo", and the…
Thermal light-curve analysis is a powerful approach to probe the thermal structures of exoplanetary atmospheres, which are greatly influenced by the planetary obliquity and eccentricity. Here we investigate the thermal light curves of…
We derive analytic, closed-form solutions for the light curve of a planet transiting a star with a limb darkening profile which is a polynomial function of the stellar elevation, up to arbitrary integer order. We provide improved analytic…
At optical wavelengths, Titan's brightness for large Sun-Titan-observer phase angles significantly exceeds its dayside brightness. The brightening that occurs near back-illumination is due to moderately large haze particles in the moon's…