The Transits of Extrasolar Planets with Moons

Description

Can we detect the moons of extrasolar planets? For two decades, astronomers have made enormous progress in the detection and characterisation of exoplanetary systems but the identification of an "exomoon" is notably absent. In this thesis, David Kipping shows how transiting planets may be used to infer the presence of exomoons through deviations in the time and duration of the planetary eclipses. A detailed account of the transit model, potential distortions, and timing techniques is covered before the analytic forms for the timing variations are derived. It is shown that habitable-zone exomoons above 0.2 Earth-masses are detectable with the Kepler space telescope using these new timing techniques. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-23 Extrasolar Moons....Pages 25-35 The Transiting Planet....Pages 37-56 Timing the Transit....Pages 57-91 Transit Distortions....Pages 93-126 Transit Timing Effects Due to an Exomoon....Pages 127-164 Detectability of Habitable Exomoons with $$\boldsymbol {\it Kepler}$$ -Class Photometry....Pages 165-182 Conclusions and Future Work....Pages 183-189 Back Matter....Pages 191-200