Related papers: Data reduction method for OPTICAM multiband time s…
Despite the ever-growing number of exoplanets discovered and the extensive analyses carried out to find their potential satellites, only two exomoon candidates, Kepler-1625b-i and Kepler-1708 b-i, have been discovered to date. A…
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…
We propose the application of coronagraphic techniques to the spectroscopic direct detection of exoplanets via the Doppler shift of planetary molecular lines. Even for an unresolved close-in planetary system, we show that the combination of…
We present new data processing techniques that allow to correct the main instrumental effects that degrade the images obtained by ISOCAM, the camera on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). Our techniques take advantage of the fact…
Accurate measurement of temperature in protoplanetary disks is critical to understanding many key features of disk evolution and planet formation, from disk chemistry and dynamics, to planetesimal formation. This paper explores the…
We present 127 new transit light curves for 39 hot Jupiter systems, obtained over the span of five years by two ground-based telescopes. A homogeneous analysis of these newly collected light curves together with archived spectroscopic,…
When Charge Coupled Devices are used for scientific observations, their dark signal is a hindrance. In their pristine state, most CCD pixels are `cool'; they exhibit low, quasi uniform dark current, which can be estimated and corrected for.…
We describe techniques concerning wavelength calibration and sky subtraction to maximise the scientific utility of data from tunable filter instruments. While we specifically address data from the Optical System for Imaging and low…
The most challenging limitation in transit photometry arises from the noises in the photometric signal. In particular, the ground-based telescopes are heavily affected by the noise due to perturbation in the Earth's atmosphere. Use of…
Digital co-addition of astronomical images is a common technique for increasing signal-to-noise and image depth. A modification of this simple technique has been applied to the detection of minor bodies in the Solar System: first stationary…
The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS) conducts radial velocity and photometric monitoring of known exoplanets in order to refine planetary orbits and predictions of possible transit times. This effort is primarily…
Substellar companions such as exoplanets and brown dwarfs exhibit changes in brightness arising from top-of-atmosphere inhomogeneities, providing insights into their atmospheric structure and dynamics. This variability can be measured in…
The orbital sampling effect (OSE) appears in phase-folded transit light curves of extrasolar planets with moons. Analytical OSE models have hitherto neglected stellar limb darkening and non-zero transit impact parameters and assumed that…
We present an objective method to remove the stellar continuum emission from narrow-band images to derive emission-line images. The method is based on the skewness of the pixel histogram of the residual images. Specifically, we exploit a…
An Optical Transition Radiation monitor has been developed for the proton beam-line of the T2K long base-line neutrino oscillation experiment. The monitor operates in the highly radioactive environment in proximity to the T2K target. It…
We performed an intensive photometric monitoring of the PMS stars falling in a field of about 10x10 arc-minutes in the vicinity of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). Photometric data were collected between November 2006 and January 2007 with…
Optical phase curves have become one of the common probes of exoplanetary atmospheres, but the information they encode has not been fully elucidated. Building on a diverse body of work, we upgrade the Flexible Modeling System (FMS) to…
In recent years, there has been a gradual increase in the performance of Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) cameras. These cameras have gained popularity as a viable alternative to charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras in a wide…
Although transit spectroscopy is a powerful method for studying the composition, thermal properties and dynamics of exoplanet atmospheres, only a few transiting terrestrial exoplanets will be close enough to allow significant transit…
The presence of silicate material in known rings in the Solar System raises the possibility of ring systems existing even within the snow line -- where most transiting exoplanets are found. Previous studies have shown that the detection of…