Related papers: Where does the simplified Stellar Contamination Mo…
Before an exoplanet transit, atmospheric refraction bends light into the line of sight of an observer. The refracted light forms a stellar mirage, a distorted secondary image of the host star. I model this phenomenon and the resultant…
We compute the emergent stellar spectra from the UV to far infrared for different viewing angles using realistic 3D model atmospheres for a large range in stellar parameters to predict the stellar limb darkening. We have computed full 3D…
Line profiles from spatially unresolved stellar observations consist of a superposition of local line profiles that result from observing the stellar atmosphere under specific viewing angles. Line profile variability caused by stellar…
Time-varying inhomogeneities on stellar surfaces constitute one of the largest sources of radial velocity (RV) error for planet detection and characterization. We show that stellar variations, because they manifest on coherent, rotating…
While photospheric magnetic elements appear mainly as Bright Points (BPs) at the disk center and as faculae near the limb, high-resolution images reveal the coexistence of BPs and faculae over a range of heliocentric angles. This is not…
We present a direct method for isolating the component of the starlight blocked by a planet as it transits its host star, and apply it to spectra of the bright transiting planet HD 189733b. We model the global shape of the stellar…
We model the solar radial velocity (RV) signal induced by faculae, the dominant contributor to RV variability in Sun-like stars. We use a representative case of a facular patch transiting the visible solar disk as the Sun rotates to…
The submillimeter opacity of dust in the diffuse Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) has been quantified using a pixel-by-pixel correlation of images of continuum emission with a proxy for column density. We used three BLAST bands at 250,…
Adding an independent estimate of the mean stellar density, $\rho_{\star}$, as a constraint in the analysis of stars that host transiting exoplanets can significantly improve the precision of the planet radius estimate in cases where the…
(Abridged) Context. Stellar limb darkening, I({\mu} = cos{\theta}), is an important constraint for microlensing, eclipsing binary, planetary transit, and interferometric observations, but is generally treated as a parameterized curve, such…
Solar flare hard X-ray spectra from RHESSI are normally interpreted in terms of purely collisional electron beam propagation, ignoring spatial evolution and collective effects. In this paper we present self-consistent numerical simulations…
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…
New observational facilities are beginning to enable insights into the three-dimensional (3D) nature of exoplanets. Transmission spectroscopy is the most widely used method for characterizing transiting temperate exoplanet's atmospheres,…
Pulsating stars are universally recognized as precise distance indicators and tracers of stellar populations. Their variability, combined with well-defined relationships between pulsation properties and intrinsic evolutionary parameters…
From exploratory studies and theoretical expectations it is known that simplifying approximations in spectroscopic analysis (LTE, 1D) lead to systematic biases of stellar parameters and abundances. These biases depend strongly on surface…
The TESS space telescope is collecting continuous, high-precision optical photometry of stars throughout the sky, including thousands of RR Lyrae stars. In this paper, we present results for an initial sample of 118 nearby RR Lyrae stars…
Thanks to missions like Kepler and TESS, we now have access to tens of thousands of high precision, fast cadence, and long baseline stellar photometric observations. In principle, these light curves encode a vast amount of information about…
Robust atmospheric and radiative transfer modeling will be required to properly interpret reflected light and thermal emission spectra of terrestrial exoplanets. This will help break observational degeneracies between the numerous…
Using CLARA (Code for Lyman Alpha Radiation Analysis) we constrain the escape fraction of Lyman-Alpha radiation in galaxies in the redshift range 5<z<7, based on the MareNostrum High-z Universe, a SPH cosmological simulation with more than…
The wavelength dependence of atmospheric refraction causes elongation of finite-bandwidth images along the elevation vector, which produces spurious signals in weak gravitational lensing shear measurements unless this atmospheric dispersion…