Related papers: Probing the Stellar Surface of HD 209458 from Mult…

We have measured transit times for HD 189733b passing in front of its bright (V = 7.67) chromospherically active and spotted parent star. Nearly continuous broadband optical photometry of this system was obtained with the MOST…

We present a brief summary of observations of the transiting extrasolar planet, HD 209458 b, designed to detect the secondary eclipse. We employ the method of `occultation spectroscopy', which searches in combined light (star and planet)…

Inaccurate limb-darkening models can be a significant source of error in the analysis of the light curves for transiting exoplanet and eclipsing binary star systems, particularly for high-precision light curves at optical wavelengths. The…

We determine the observability in transmission of inhomogeneous cloud cover on the limbs of hot Jupiters through post processing a general circulation model to include cloud distributions computed using a cloud microphysics model. We find…

Differences in the ingress and egress shapes of transit light curves can indicate morning-evening temperature contrasts on transiting planets. Here, we pinpoint an alternative mechanism that can introduce asymmetries in transit light…

The detection of extrasolar planets' atmospheres requires very demanding observations. For planets that can not be spatially separated from their host stars, i.e. the vast majority of planets, the transiting planets are the only ones…

HD 209458b was the first transiting planet discovered, and the first for which an atmosphere, in particular NaI, was detected. With time, it has become one of the most frequently studied planets, with a large diversity of atmospheric…

Near-infrared photometry of transiting extrasolar planets can be of great scientific value. It is however not straightforward to reach the necessary millimagnitude precision. Here we report on our attempts to observe transits and secondary…

One of the biggest problems we can encounter while dealing with the limb-darkening coefficients for stellar atmospheric models with spherical symmetry is the difficulty of adjusting both the limb and the central parts simultaneously. In…

Limb darkening is an important stellar phenomenon and must be accounted for in the study of stellar spectra, eclipsing binaries, transiting planetary systems, and microlensing events. The power-2 limb-darkening law provides a good match to…

For the nearby dwarf star alpha Cen B (K1 V), we present limb darkening predictions from a 3D hydro-dynamical radiative transfer model of its atmosphere. We first compare the results of this model to a standard Kurucz's atmosphere. Then we…

We search for an infrared signature of the transiting extrasolar planet HD 209458b during secondary eclipse. Our method, which we call `occultation spectroscopy,' searches for the disappearance and reappearance of weak spectral features due…

We investigate the atmosphere and interior of the new transiting planet HD 149026b, which appears to be very rich in heavy elements. We first compute model atmospheres at metallicities ranging from solar to ten times solar, and show how for…

Precise proper motion measurements (sigma_mu ~ 10 mkas/yr) of the recently discovered hyper-velocity star (HVS) SDSS J090745.0+024507 would yield significant constraints on the axis ratios and orientation of a triaxial model for the…

There is evidence that the transiting planet HD 209458b has a large exosphere of neutral hydrogen, based on a 15% decrement in Lyman-alpha flux that was observed by Vidal-Madjar et al. during transits. Here we report upper limits on H-alpha…

We calculate the meteorology of the close-in transiting extrasolar planet HD 209458b using a global, three-dimensional atmospheric circulation model. Dynamics are driven by perpetual irradiation of one hemisphere of this tidally locked…

Of the over 200 known extrasolar planets, 14 exhibit transits in front of their parent stars as seen from Earth. Spectroscopic observations of the transiting planets can probe the physical conditions of their atmospheres. One such technique…

We have fit synthetic visibilities from 3-D (CO5BOLD + PHOENIX) and 1-D (PHOENIX, ATLAS 12) model stellar atmospheres of Procyon (F5 IV) to high-precision interferometric data from the VLTI Interferometer (K-band) and from the Mark III…

The radii of giant planets, as measured from transit observations, may vary with wavelength due to Rayleigh scattering or variations in opacity. Such an effect is predicted to be large enough to detect using ground-based observations at…

Luhman and collaborators recently discovered an early-T dwarf companion to the G0 dwarf star HN Peg, using Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) images. Companionship was established on the basis of the common proper motion inferred from…