Observational studies of transiting extrasolar planets (invited review)

The study of transiting extrasolar planets is only 15 years old, but has matured into a rich area of research. I review the observational aspects of this work, concentrating on the discovery of transits, the characterisation of planets from photometry and spectroscopy, the Homogeneous Studies project, starspots, orbital obliquities, and the atmospheric properties of the known planets. I begin with historical context and conclude with a glance to a future of TESS, CHEOPS, Gaia and PLATO.Comment: Invited review paper presented at Living Together: Planets, Host Stars and Binaries (Litomysl, Czech Republic, September 2014). 15 pages, 9 figures, to be published in ASP Conf. Ser. TEPCat is available at: http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/jkt/tepcat

Homogeneous studies of transiting extrasolar planets. III. Additional planets and stellar models

I derive the physical properties of 30 transiting extrasolar planetary systems using a homogeneous analysis of published data. The light curves are modelled with the JKTEBOP code, with attention paid to limb darkening and eccentricity. The light from some systems is contaminated by faint nearby stars, which if ignored will systematically bias the results. I show that this must be accounted for using external measurements of the amount of contaminating light. A contamination of 5% is enough to make the measurement of a planetary radius 2% too low. The physical properties of the 30 transiting systems are obtained by interpolating in stellar model predictions to find the best match to their measured quantities. The error budgets are used to compile a list of systems which would benefit from additional observations. The systematic errors arising from the inclusion of stellar models are assessed by using five different theoretical models. This model dependence sets a lower limit on the accuracy of measurements of the system properties, and at worst is 1% for the stellar mass. The correlations of planetary surface gravity and mass with orbital period have significance levels of only 3.1 sigma and 2.3 sigma. The division of planets into two classes based on Safronov number is increasingly blurred. Most of the objects studied here would benefit from more photometry and/or spectroscopy, as well as a better understanding of low-mass stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 25 pages, 7 tables, 28 figures. The physical properties of the 30 transiting planetary systems are tabulated on pages 19 and 20. An appendix containing extensive results and bibliographies for each system can be obtained at http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jkt/pubs/Southworth-TEP3app.pd

Eclipsing Binary Stars: the Royal Road to Stellar Astrophysics

Russell (1948) famously described eclipses as the "royal road" to stellar astrophysics. From photometric and spectroscopic observations it is possible to measure the masses and radii (to 1% or better!), and thus surface gravities and mean densities, of stars in eclipsing binary systems using nothing more than geometry. Adding an effective temperature subsequently yields luminosity and then distance (or vice versa) to high precision. This wealth of directly measurable quantities makes eclipsing binaries the primary source of empirical information on the properties of stars, and therefore a cornerstone of stellar astrophysics. In this review paper I summarise the current standing of eclipsing binary research, present an overview of useful analysis techniques, and conclude with a glance to the future.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Invited review for the Pas De Deux conference, Paris, October 201

The DEBCat detached eclipsing binary catalogue

Detached eclipsing binary star systems are our primary source of measured physical properties of normal stars. I introduce DEBCat: a catalogue of detached eclipsing binaries with mass and radius measurements to the 2% precision necessary to put useful constraints on theoretical models of stellar evolution. The catalogue was begun in 2006, as an update of the compilation by Andersen (1991). It now contains over 170 systems, and new results are added on appearance in the refereed literature. DEBCat is available at: http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/jkt/debcat/Comment: Poster paper presented at Living Together: Planets, Host Stars and Binaries (Litomysl, Czech Republic, September 2014). 2 pages, 1 figure, to be published in ASP Conf. Ser. DEBCat is available at: http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/jkt/debcat

Homogeneous studies of transiting planets: an online catalogue

The derived physical properties of the known transiting extrasolar planetary systems come from a variety of sources, and are calculated using a range of different methods so are not always directly comparable. I present a catalogue of the physical properties of 58 transiting extrasolar planet and brown dwarf systems which have been measured using homogeneous methods, resulting in quantities which are internally consistent and well-suited to detailed statistical study. The main results for each object, plus a critical compilation of literature values for all known systems, have been placed in an online catalogue. TEPCat can be found at: http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jkt/tepcat/Comment: Proceedings of IAU Symposium 282. Two pages, one figure. The TEPCat catalogue can be found at http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jkt/tepcat

Testing convection in stellar models using detached eclipsing binaries

The fundamental properties of detached eclipsing binary stars can be measured very accurately, which could make them important objects for constraining the treatment of convection in theoretical stellar models. However, only four or five pieces of information can be found for the average system, which is not enough. We discuss studies of more interesting and useful objects: eclipsing binaries in clusters and eclipsing binaries with pulsating components.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, poster proceedings for IAUS 239 (Convection in Astrophysics). The actual poster, and other resources, can be downloaded from http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jkt

Orbital obliquities of transiting planets from starspot occultations

When a planet passes in front of a starspot during a transit of its host star, it causes a small upward blip in the light curve. Modelling the transit with the starspot allows the size, brightness and position of the spot to be measured. If the same spot can be observed in two different transits, it is possible to track the motion of the spot due to the rotation of the star. The rotation period and velocity of the star (Prot and Vsini) and the sky-projected orbital obliquity of the system (lambda) can then be determined. If one has three or more observations of the same spot, the true orbital obliquity (psi) can be measured. We are performing this analysis for a number of cool stars orbited by transiting planets. We present our results so far and compile a catalogue of lambda and psi measurements from spot crossing events. The method is particularly useful for cool stars, and is therefore complementary to studies of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, which perform better on hotter and faster-rotating stars.Comment: Poster presentation at Cool Stars 19, Uppsala, June 2016. 6 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. To be published by Zenod