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Despite the success of discovering transiting exoplanets, several recently observed objects (e.g. KIC-8462852, J1407 and PDS-110) exhibit unconventional transit signals, whose appropriate interpretation in terms of a spherical single body…
We used the 0.5-m robotic telescopes located at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences for monitoring two square degrees of the sky with the aim of detecting new exoplanets. A dimming of the visible…
The next generation of exoplanet space photometry missions proposed by both NASA and ESA promise to discover small transiting planets around the nearest and brightest main-sequence stars. The physical and rotational properties of these…
Transmission spectroscopy is a promising tool for the atmospheric characterization of transiting exoplanets. Because the planetary signal is faint, discrepancies have been reported regarding individual targets. We investigate the dependence…
Aims. We analyze whether the effects of secular perturbations, originating from a substellar companion, on the dust dynamics in a debris disk can be investigated with spatially resolved observations. Methods. We numerically simulated the…
Exoplanet discoveries have motivated numerous efforts to find unseen populations of exomoons, yet they have been unsuccessful. A plausible explanation is that most discovered planets are located on close-in orbits, which would make their…
Rings around exoplanets (exorings) are one of the most expected discoveries in exoplanetary research. There is an increasing number of theoretical and observational efforts for detecting exorings, but none of them have succeeded yet. Most…
Of the nearby transiting exoplanets that are amenable to detailed study, TrES-2 is both the most massive and has the largest impact parameter. We present z-band photometry of three transits of TrES-2. We improve upon the estimates of the…
The yields from transit surveys can be used to constrain the frequency and statistical properties of extrasolar planets. Conversely, planet frequencies can be used to estimate expected detection rates, which are critical for the planning…
The future extremely large telescopes (ELTs) are expected to be powerful tools to probe the atmospheres of extrasolar planets using high-dispersion spectroscopy, with the potential to detect molecular oxygen in Earth-like planets transiting…
We propose that extrasolar asteroid belts can be detected through their gravitational microlensing signatures. Asteroid belt + star lens systems create so-called "pseudo-caustics", regions in the source plane where the magnification…
Limb-darkening is fundamental in determining transit lightcurve shapes, and is typically modeled by a variety of laws that parametrize the intensity profile of the star that is being transited. Confronted with a transit lightcurve, some…
A simple transit model is described along with tests of this model against published results for 4 exoplanet systems (Kepler-1, 2, 8, and 77). Data from the Kepler mission are used. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method is applied to…
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…
The Kepler mission, despite its conclusion over a decade ago, continues to offer a rich dataset for uncovering new astrophysical objects and phenomena. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive search for exocometary transit signatures…
We investigate directly imaging exoplanets around eclipsing binaries, using the eclipse as a natural tool for dimming the binary and thus increasing the planet to star brightness contrast. At eclipse, the binary becomes point-like, making…
We present photometry of 13 transits of XO-3b, a massive transiting planet on an eccentric orbit. Previous data led to two inconsistent estimates of the planetary radius. Our data strongly favor the smaller radius, with increased precision:…
We assess a physically feasible explanation for the low number of discovered (near-)grazing planetary transits through all ground and space based transit surveys. We performed simulations to generate the synthetic distribution of detectable…
(Abridged) The existence of an extended neutral hydrogen exosphere around small planets can be used as an evidence for the presence of water in their lower atmosphere but, to date, such feature has not been securely detected in rocky…
Transits of exoplanets across cool stars contain blended information about structures on the stellar surface and about the planetary body and atmosphere. To advance understanding of how this information is entangled, a surface-flux…