Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Limb Darkening And Planetary Transits: Testing Center-To-Limb Intensity Variations And Limb-Darkening Directly From Model Stellar Atmospheres, Hilding R. Neilson, Joseph T. Mcneil, Richard Ignace, John B. Lester

Richard Ignace

The transit method, employed by Microvariability and Oscillation of Stars (MOST), Kepler, and various ground-based surveys has enabled the characterization of extrasolar planets to unprecedented precision. These results are precise enough to begin to measure planet atmosphere composition, planetary oblateness, starspots, and other phenomena at the level of a few hundred parts per million. However, these results depend on our understanding of stellar limb darkening, that is, the intensity distribution across the stellar disk that is sequentially blocked as the planet transits. Typically, stellar limb darkening is assumed to be a simple parameterization with two coefficients that are derived …