Modeling and Observing Extrasolar Planetary Transits

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Binary Transit Models, Planetary Systems, Stars: Individual (Gsc 34130-0005), Photometric Binaries, Eclipsing Planetary Systems, Binary Transit Models: Planetary Systems, Stars: Individual:Gsc 34130-0005, Techniques: Photometric, Binaries: Eclipsing Planetary Systems

Scientific paper

A computer model, called the Exoplanetary Pixelization Transit Model (EPTM), is developed to calculate exoplanetary transit light curves and determine exoplanet properties from an observed transit light curve. To establish and test the accuracy of the model, an observation of XO-2 was conducted on 2008 Mar 17 where time-series photometry of the transit of XO-2b was collected. Based on the EPTM, XO-2 hosts a planet, XO-2b, with a planetary radius of R = 1.043 RJ, in a near circular orbit with semimajor axis a = 0.0360 AU and inclination angle i = 89.67. The EPTM also determined the length of the transit and the approximate start and end time of the ingress and egress. Here we describe how the EPTM works: (1) a theoretical light curve is calculated for an initial set of planetary parameters, RP , a, and i; (2) an observed light curve is used to calculate χ2 for that theoretical curve; (3) the planetary parameters are varied in a grid about their initial values to produce a multidimensional array of χ2 values; and (4) the minimum valley in this χ2 array is used to select most probable values and confidence intervals of the planetary parameters. We conclude with future prospects for studying light curve anomalies in exoplanetary transits.

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