Related papers: Evidence for Reflected Light from the Most Eccentr…
We present photometry of HD 189733 during eight transits of its close-in giant planet, and out-of-transit photometry spanning two years. Using the transit photometry, we determine the stellar and planetary radii and the photometric…
We present a semi-analytic model atmosphere for close-in exoplanets that captures the essential physics of phase curves: orbital and viewing geometry, advection, and re-radiation. We calibrate the model with the well-characterized…
It is shown herein that planets with eccentric orbits are more likely to transit than circularly orbiting planets with the same semimajor axis by a factor of (1-e^2)^{-1}. If the orbital parameters of discovered transiting planets are…
Doppler measurements of two G-type main-sequence stars, HD210277 and HD168443, reveal Keplerian variations that imply the presence of companions with masses (M sin i) of 1.28 and 5.04 M_Jup and orbital periods of 437 d and 58 d,…
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…
We present an analysis of the apsidal motion and light curve parameters of 54 never-before-studied galactic Algol-type binaries. This is the first analysis of such a large sample of eccentric eclipsing binaries in our Galaxy, and has…
Photometry is presented of the Dec. 25, 2007 transit of HD 17156b, which has the longest orbital period and highest orbital eccentricity of all the known transiting exoplanets. New measurements of the stellar radial velocity are also…
We present simultaneous photometric and spectroscopic observations of HD 17156b spanning a transit on UT 2007 November 12. This system is of special interest because of its 21-day period (unusually long for a transiting planet) and its high…
Recent analyses of Kepler space telescope data reveal that transiting planets with orbital periods shorter than about 2-3 days are generally observed around late-type stars with rotation periods longer than about 5-10 days. We investigate…
We report the detection of a transit egress by the ~ 3.9-Jupiter-mass planet HD 80606b, an object in a highly-eccentric orbit (e ~ 0.93) about its parent star of approximately solar type. The astrophysical reality of the signal of…
For extrasolar planets with orbital periods, P>10 days, radial velocity surveys find non-circular orbital eccentricities are common, <e>~0.3. Future surveys for extrasolar planets using the transit technique will also have sensitivity to…
We present 63 new multi-site radial velocity measurements of the K1III giant HD 76920, which was recently reported to host the most eccentric planet known to orbit an evolved star. We focussed our observational efforts on the time around…
Rotation and orbital eccentricity both strongly influence planetary climate. Eccentricities can often be measured for exoplanets, but rotation rates are currently difficult or impossible to constrain. Here we examine how the combined…
The next generation of high-contrast imaging instruments will provide the first unresolved image of an extrasolar planet. While the emitted infrared light from the planet in thermal equilibrium should show almost no phase effect, the…
Exoplanetary systems closest to the Sun, with the brightest host stars, provide the most favorable opportunities for characterization studies of the host star and their planet(s). The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey uses…
Context: Several studies have so far placed useful constraints on planetary atmospheric properties using transmission spectrsocopy, and in the case of HD209458b even the radial velocity of the planet during the transit event has been…
Since exoplanets were detected using the radial velocity method, they have revealed a diverse distribution of orbital configurations. Amongst these are planets in highly eccentric orbits (e > 0.5). Most of these systems consist of a single…
We present refined parameters for the extrasolar planetary system HAT-P-2 (also known as HD 147506), based on new radial velocity and photometric data. HAT-P-2b is a transiting extrasolar planet that exhibits an eccentric orbit. We present…
For a hypothetical planet on a highly eccentric orbit, we have calculated the osculating orbital parameters and its closest approaches to Earth and Moon over a period of 750 kyr. The approaches which are close enough to influence the…
The discovery of over 200 extrasolar planets with the radial velocity (RV) technique has revealed that many giant planets have large eccentricities, in striking contrast with most of the planets in the solar system and prior theories of…