THE POPULATION OF LONG-PERIOD TRANSITING EXOPLANETS

Long Period Exoplanets

Recent imaging campaigns indicate the possible existence of massive planets on ∼> 1000 year orbits about a few percent of normal stars. Such objects are not easily explained in most current planet formation models. In this Letter we use a large ensemble of N-body simulations to evaluate the potential for planet scattering during relaxation of dynamically active systems to explain very long peri...

Comparative Habitability of Transiting Exoplanets

Exoplanet habitability is traditionally assessed by comparing a planet’s semi-major axis to the location of its host star’s “habitable zone,” the shell around a star for which Earth-like planets can possess liquid surface water. The Kepler space telescope has discovered numerous planet candidates near the habitable zone, and many more are expected from missions such as K2, TESS and PLATO. These...

Long period exoplanets from dynamical relaxation

Recent imaging campaigns indicate the likely existence of massive planets (∼ 1− 10 MJ ) on ∼> 1000 year orbits about a few percent of stars. Such objects are not easily explained in most current planet formation models. In this Letter we use ensembles of 100 N-body simulations to evaluate the potential for planet scattering during relaxation of dynamically active systems to explain the populati...

High Precision Photometry of Transiting Exoplanets

Observations of Transiting Exoplanets with Differential Photometry

Preliminary observations and computational methods for analysis are presented for observing celestial objects with time-varying intensity, in particular transiting exoplanets. Transits occur when a planet orbiting a star other than the sun (an exoplanet) passes between the Earth and the host star, slightly dimming the apparent intensity of the star. CCD images of the host star of one such exopl...