# How to Find a Planet from Transit Variations

## TL;DR

This paper discusses the discovery and characterization of Kepler-46 using transit timing variations (TTVs), demonstrating the practical application of this method to detect non-transiting exoplanets and address detection incompleteness.

## Contribution

It presents the first successful application of TTVs to discover and characterize an exoplanetary system, showcasing its effectiveness in exoplanet detection.

## Key findings

- Kepler-46 was the first exoplanet system characterized by TTVs.
- TTV method can detect non-transiting planets in multi-planet systems.
- Subsequent detections like Kepler-88 validate the method's utility.

## Abstract

Here we describe a story behind the discovery of Kepler-46, which was the first exoplanetary system detected and characterized from a method known as the transit timing variations (TTVs). The TTV method relies on the gravitational interaction between planets orbiting the same star. If transits of at least one of the planets are detected, precise measurements of its transit times can be used, at least in principle, to detect and characterize other non-transiting planets in the system. Kepler-46 was the first case for which this method was shown to work in practice. Other detections and characterizations followed (e.g., Kepler-88). The TTV method plays an important role in addressing the incompleteness of planetary systems detected from transits.