Observational studies of transiting extrasolar planets (invited review)

Abstract

The study of transiting extrasolar planets is only 15 years old, but has matured into a rich area of research. I review the observational aspects of this work, concentrating on the discovery of transits, the characterisation of planets from photometry and spectroscopy, the Homogeneous Studies project, starspots, orbital obliquities, and the atmospheric properties of the known planets. I begin with historical context and conclude with a glance to a future of TESS, CHEOPS, Gaia and PLATO.

arXiv commentInvited review paper presented at Living Together: Planets, Host Stars and Binaries (Litomysl, Czech Republic, September 2014). 15 pages, 9 figures, to be published in ASP Conf. Ser. TEPCat is available at: http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/jkt/tepcat/

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