2008/05/01 by Stephen R. Kane, Kaspar von Braun
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s1743921308026641
To appear in the Proceedings of the 253rd IAU Symposium: "Transiting Planets", May 2008, Cambridge, MA. 4 pages, 4 figures
openalex publication_date 2008/05/01 · arxiv created 2008/06/30 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract The orbital parameters of extra-solar planets have a significant impact on the probability that the planet will transit the host star. This was recently demonstrated by the transit detection of HD 17156b whose favourable eccentricity and argument of periastron dramatically increased its transit likelihood. We present a study which provides a quantitative analysis of how these two orbital parameters affect the geometric transit probability as a function of period. Further, we apply these results to known radial velocity planets and show that there are unexpectedly high transit probabilities for planets at relatively long periods. For a photometric monitoring campaign which aims to determine if the planet indeed transits, we calculate the significance of a null result and the subsequent constraints that may be applied to orbital parameters.