Prospects of long-time-series observations from Dome C for transit search

TL;DR

This paper evaluates Dome C in Antarctica as a prime site for long-duration stellar observations to detect transiting exoplanets, highlighting its advantages and potential when integrated with other sites.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of Dome C's observational capabilities for exoplanet transit detection against other sites and networks, emphasizing its unique long winter observing window.

Findings

Dome C offers a high duty cycle for uninterrupted observations.

Integration of Dome C with other sites enhances observational coverage.

Long winter periods at Dome C improve transit detection prospects.

Abstract

The detection of transiting extrasolar planets requires high-photometric quality and long-duration photometric stellar time-series. In this paper, we investigate the advantages provided by the Antarctic observing platform Dome C for planet transit detections during its long winter period, which allows for relatively long, uninterrupted time-series. Our calculations include limiting effects due to the Sun and Moon, cloud coverage and the effect of reduced photometric quality for high extinction of target fields. We compare the potential for long time-series from Dome C with a single site in Chile, a three-site low-latitude network as well as combinations of Dome C with Chile and the network, respectively. Dome C is one of the prime astronomical sites on Earth for obtaining uninterrupted long-duration observations in terms of prospects for a high observational duty cycle. The duty cycle of a project can, however, be significantly improved by integrating Dome C into a network of sites.