Precise Photometry and Spectroscopy of Transits

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in precise photometric and spectroscopic observations of planetary transits, highlighting how these techniques reveal planetary and stellar properties, and inform planetary migration theories.

Contribution

It summarizes recent results from the Transit Light Curve project and Rossiter-McLaughlin effect measurements for transiting exoplanets.

Findings

Transit light curves determine planetary radii.

Rossiter-McLaughlin effect constrains stellar obliquity.

Observations inform planetary migration history.

Abstract

A planetary transit produces both a photometric signal and a spectroscopic signal. Precise observations of the transit light curve reveal the planetary radius and allow a search for timing anomalies caused by satellites or additional planets. Precise measurements of the stellar Doppler shift throughout a transit (the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect) place a lower bound on the stellar obliquity, which may be indicative of the planet's migration history. I review recent results of the Transit Light Curve project, and of a parallel effort to measure the Rossiter effect for many of the known transiting planets.