Related papers: Reflected Light Phase Curves in the TESS Era

Reflected starlight measurements will open a new path in the characterization of directly imaged exoplanets. However, we still lack a population study of known targets amenable to this technique. Here, we investigate which of the about 4300…

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…

Context. Clouds have already been detected in exoplanetary atmospheres. They play crucial roles in a planet's atmosphere and climate and can also create ambiguities in the determination of atmospheric parameters such as trace gas mixing…

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has an exceptionally large plate scale of 21"/px, causing most TESS light curves to record the blended light of multiple stars. This creates a danger of misattributing variability observed by…

We generate theoretical albedo and reflection spectra for a full range of extrasolar giant planet (EGP) models, from Jovian to 51-Pegasi class objects. Our albedo modeling utilizes the latest atomic and molecular cross sections, a Mie…

Albedo is one of the important characteristics of hot Jupiter exoplanets. However, albedo constraints have been obtained for very few exoplanets. In this work, we present the TESS Phase Curve observations of WASP-18b, WASP-19b, WASP-121b,…

[Abridged] If both the day-side and night-side effective temperatures of a planet can be measured, it is possible to estimate its Bond albedo, 0<A_B<1, as well as its day-night heat redistribution efficiency, 0<epsilon<1. We attempt a…

We report the detection of the secondary eclipse of the hot Jupiter HD 209458b in optical/visible light using the CHEOPS space telescope. Our measurement of 20.4 +/- 3.3 ppm translates into a geometric albedo of A_g = 0.096 +/- 0.016. The…

We present a prediction of the transiting exoplanet yield of the TESS primary mission, in order to guide follow-up observations and science projects utilizing TESS discoveries. Our new simulations differ from previous work by using (1) an…

We present a comprehensive study of phase curves and secondary eclipses in the Kepler data set using all data from 16 quarters that were available in 2013-2014. Our sample consists of 20 confirmed planets with R_p > 4 R_e ,P < 10d, V_mag <…

The transit method is biased toward short orbital period planets that are interior to their host star's Habitable Zone (HZ). These planets are particularly interesting from the perspective of exploring runaway greenhouse scenarios and the…

The radius valley carries implications for how the atmospheres of small planets form and evolve, but this feature is visible only with highly precise characterizations of many small planets. We present the characterization of nine planets…

The largest and most close-in exoplanets would reflect enough star light to enable its ground-based photometric detection under the condition of a high to moderate albedo. We present the results of an observing campaign of secondary eclipse…

Transiting planets manifest themselves by a periodic dimming of their host star by a fixed amount. On the other hand, light curves of transiting circumbinary (CB) planets are expected to be neither periodic nor to have a single depth while…

We present high angular resolution imaging observations of 517 host stars of TESS exoplanet candidates using the `Alopeke and Zorro speckle cameras at Gemini North and South. The sample consists mainly of bright F, G, K stars at distances…

Earth-like, potentially habitable exoplanets are prime targets in the search for extraterrestrial life. Information about their atmosphere and surface can be derived by analyzing light of the parent star reflected by the planet. We…

The search for life beyond the Solar System remains a primary goal of current and near-future missions, including NASA's upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). However, research into determining the habitability of terrestrial…

In the past decade the study of exoplanet atmospheres at high-spectral resolution, via transmission/emission spectroscopy and cross-correlation techniques for atomic/molecular mapping, has become a powerful and consolidated methodology. The…

Earthshine observations offer a unique opportunity to study Earth as an exoplanet seen from the Moon. As the Sun-Earth-Moon geometry changes, Earth can be observed as a spatially unresolved exoplanet at different phase angles, providing…

We present a simple and interpretable representation of TESS light curves designed for large-scale exploratory analysis. Our goal is not to optimize classification performance, but to construct a computationally efficient mapping in which…