MOST Spacebased Photometry of HD 189733: Precise Timing Measurements for Transits Across an Active Star
- Author(s)
- Eliza Miller-Ricci, Jason F. Rowe, Rainer Kuschnig, Werner Wolfgang Weiss
- Abstract
We have measured transit times for HD 189733 passing in front of its bright (V = 7.67) chromospherically active and spotted parent star. Nearly continuous broadband photometry of this system was obtained with the MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars) space telesope during 21 days in August 2006, monitoring 10 consecutive transits. We have used these data to search for deviations from a constant orbital period which can indicate the presence of additional planets in the system that are as yet undetected by Doppler searches. We find no variations above the level of ±45 s, ruling out planets in the Earth-to-Neptune mass range in a number of resonant orbits. We find that a number of complications can arise in measuring transit times for a planet transiting an active star with large star spots. However, such transiting systems are also useful in that they can help to constrain and test spot models. This has implications for the large number of transiting systems expected to be discovered by the CoRoT and Kepler missions.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Harvard University, University of British Columbia (UBC)
- Journal
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
- Volume
- 253
- Pages
- 459-461
- No. of pages
- 3
- ISSN
- 1743-9213
- Publication date
- 2009
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103003 Astronomy
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/98561d7d-4530-4866-affc-48b0fa4e6ac1