After closely examining the light curves recorded by COROT, the researchers determined that the exoplanet bigger than previously thought (Source: CNES/D.Ducros )
Posted on 07/15/2009 9:21:26 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Astronomers observing exoplanets around other stars may be underestimating their size, according to a German study. The researchers believe the error may be due to active stars adding 'noise' to the observation of exoplanets using the transit method... The transit method detects exoplanets as they pass in front of their parent star, reducing the amount of light reaching telescopes on, and orbiting, Earth. Although the transit method isn't the best method for detecting exoplanets, it provides a reliable estimate of its size and mass. PhD student Stefan Czesla of the Hamburg Observatory in Germany, and colleagues, examined the giant exoplanet Corot-2b, using data from the French COROT satellite. Discovered in 2007, Corot-2b is three and a half times the mass of Jupiter and orbits its star in just 1.74 days. After closely examining the light curves recorded by COROT, which involved splitting them into their red, green and blue components, the researchers determined that the exoplanet is 3% bigger than previously thought... Dr John Greenhill of the University of Tasmania believes the research also highlights the limitation of the transit method in detecting exoplanets, particularly those smaller than Jupiter... "In principle it looks like we won't be able to detect planets [the size of] Neptune and Uranus, and even Saturn using these methods because of that limit."
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
After closely examining the light curves recorded by COROT, the researchers determined that the exoplanet bigger than previously thought (Source: CNES/D.Ducros )
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