Related papers: Toward the Detection of Exoplanet Transits with Po…
We present and discuss a polarimetric effect caused by a planet transiting the stellar disk thus breaking the symmetry of the light distribution and resulting in linear polarization of the partially eclipsed star. Estimates of this effect…
Titan is an excellent test case for detailed studies of the scattering polarization from thick hazy atmospheres. We present the first limb polarization measurements of Titan, which are compared as a test to our limb polarization models.…
We report the first direct detection of an exoplanet in the visible polarized light. The transiting planet HD189733b is one of the very hot Jupiters with shortest periods and, thus, smallest orbits, which makes them ideal candidates for…
A close-in giant planetary (CGP) system has a net polarization signal whose value varies depending on the orbital phase of the planet. This polarization signal is either caused by the stellar occultation or by reflected starlight from the…
Well over 700 exoplanets have been detected to date. Only a handful of these have been observed directly. Direct observation is extremely challenging due to the small separation and very large contrast involved. Imaging polarimetry offers a…
One of the main endeavors of the field of exoplanetary sciences is the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres on a population level. The current method of choice to accomplish this task is transmission spectroscopy, where the apparent…
The transit method, employed by MOST, \emph{Kepler}, and various ground-based surveys has enabled the characterization of extrasolar planets to unprecedented precision. These results are precise enough to begin to measure planet atmosphere…
Stellar limb darkening is the observed variation in brightness of a star between its centre and edge (or limb) when viewed in the plane of the sky. Stellar brightness is maximal at the centre and then decreases radially and monotonically…
Context. As a new growing field, exocartography aims to map the surface features of exoplanets that are beyond the resolution of traditional observing techniques. While photometric approaches have been discussed extensively, polarimetry has…
While scattering of light by atoms and molecules yields large amount of polarization at the B-band of both T- and L-dwarfs, scattering by dust grains in cloudy atmosphere of L-dwarfs gives rise to significant polarization at the far-optical…
We propose a new method for investigating atmospheric inhomogeneities in exoplanets through transmission spectroscopy. Our approach links chromatic variations in conventional transit model parameters (central transit time, total and full…
We report the detection of the primary transit of the extra-solar planet HD 80606 b, thanks to photometric and spectroscopic observations performed at Observatoire de Haute-Provence, simultaneously with the CCD camera at the 120-cm…
We present new observations of a transit of the 111-day-period exoplanet HD80606b. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope and its IRAC camera on the post-cryogenic mission, we performed a 19-hour-long photometric observation of HD80606 that…
Planets reflect and linearly polarize the radiation that they receive from their host stars. The emergent polarization is sensitive to aspects of the planet atmosphere such as the gas composition and the occurrence of condensates and their…
We present results of numerical simulations of flux and linear polarization variations in transiting exoplanetary systems, caused by the host star disk symmetry breaking. We consider different configurations of planetary transits depending…
We use multi-band photometry to refine estimates for the planetary radius and orbital inclination of the transiting planet system HD 209458. We gathered 1066 spectra over four distinct transits with the STIS spectrometer on the Hubble Space…
Differences in the ingress and egress shapes of transit light curves can indicate morning-evening temperature contrasts on transiting planets. Here, we pinpoint an alternative mechanism that can introduce asymmetries in transit light…
We present the results of a transcontinental campaign to observe the 2009 June 5 transit of the exoplanet HD 80606b. We report the first detection of the transit ingress, revealing the transit duration to be 11.64 +/- 0.25 hr and allowing…
Many of the directly imaged self-luminous gas giant exoplanets have been found to have cloudy atmospheres. Scattering of the emergent thermal radiation from these planets by the dust grains in their atmospheres should locally give rise to…
Limb-resolved transmission spectroscopy has the potential to transform our understanding of exoplanetary atmospheres. By separately measuring the transmission spectra of the evening and morning limbs, these atmospheric regions can be…