Related papers: Benchmark tests of transmission spectroscopy using…
Transmission spectra probe exoplanetary atmospheres, but they can also be strongly affected by heterogeneities in host star photospheres through the transit light source effect. Here we build upon our recent study of the effects of…
Transmission spectra are differential measurements that utilize stellar illumination to probe transiting exoplanet atmospheres. Any spectral difference between the illuminating light source and the disk-integrated stellar spectrum due to…
The transit timing variation technique (TTV) has been widely used to detect and characterize multiple planetary systems. Due to the observational biases imposed mainly by the photometric conditions and instrumentation and the high…
We re-visit the principles of transmission spectroscopy for transiting extrasolar planets, focusing on the overlap between the planetary spectrum and the illuminating stellar spectrum. Virtually all current models of exoplanetary…
Using high-resolution ground-based transmission spectroscopy to probe exoplanetary atmospheres is difficult due to the inherent telluric contamination from absorption in Earth's atmosphere. A variety of methods have previously been used to…
With the first observations of debris disks as well as proposed planets around white dwarfs, the question of how rocky planets around such stellar remnants can be characterized and probed for signs of life becomes tangible. White dwarfs are…
We present ground-based measurements of the transmission and emission spectra of the hot-Jupiter WASP-19b in nine spectroscopic channels from 1.25 to 2.35 microns. The measurements are based on the combined analysis of time-series…
We quantify the effects of refraction in transit transmission spectroscopy on spectral absorption features and on temporal variations that could be used to obtain altitude-dependent spectra for planets orbiting stars of different stellar…
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…
We present a new method for differentiating between planetary transits and eclipsing binaries based on the presence of the ellipsoidal light variations. These variations can be used to detect stellar secondaries with masses ~0.2 M_sun…
Traditionally, ground-based spectrophotometric observations probing transiting exoplanet atmospheres have employed a linear map between comparison and target star light curves (e.g. via differential spectrophotometry) to correct for…
Astrophysical false positives due to stellar eclipsing binaries pose one of the greatest challenges to ground-based surveys for transiting Hot Jupiters. We have used known properties of multiple star systems and Hot Jupiter systems to…
In recent years it has become common practice to divide observed transit absorption spectra by synthetic absorption spectra computed for the transit of an atmosphere-less planet. This action supposedly corrects the observed absorption…
Transmission spectroscopy enables the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres by probing absorption features in their terminator regions. In the optical, it is particularly sensitive to metal oxides and atomic species that can strongly…
We present here new transmission spectra of the hot Jupiter HD-189733b using the SpeX instrument on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. We obtained two nights of observations where we recorded the primary transit of the planet in the J-,…
We report on a pilot study of a novel observing technique, defocussed transmission spectroscopy, and its application to the study of exoplanet atmospheres using ground-based platforms. Similar to defocussed photometry, defocussed…
Transmission spectroscopy is a prime technique to study the chemical composition and structure of exoplanetary atmospheres. Strong excess absorption signals have been detected in the optical Na I D1, 2 Fraunhofer lines during transits of…
Several studies have shown that stellar activity features, such as occulted and non-occulted starspots, can affect the measurement of transit parameters biasing studies of transit timing variations and transmission spectra. We present…
Searches for variations of fundamental constants require accurate measurement errors. There are several potential sources of errors and quantifying each one accurately is essential. This paper addresses one source of uncertainty relating to…
The majority of exoplanets found to date have been discovered via the transit method, and transmission spectroscopy represents the primary method of studying these distant worlds. Currently, in-depth atmospheric characterization of…