SETI public: Detection of transiting exoplanets in star clusters (2 papers)

• Previous message: LARRY KLAES: "SETI public: The MAGIC Telescope"

Paper: astro-ph/0512198
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 18:08:34 GMT (931kb)

Title: Planets in Stellar Clusters Extensive Search. IV. A detection of a
possible transiting planet candidate in the open cluster NGC 2158

Authors: B. J. Mochejska, K. Z. Stanek, D. D. Sasselov, A. H. Szentgyorgyi,
E.
Adams, R. L. Cooper, J. B. Foster, J. D. Hartman, R. C. Hickox, K. Lai, M.
Westover & J. N. Winn

Comments: 21 pages LaTeX, including 14 figures and 7 tables. To be published
in
the February 2006 Astronomical Journal. Paper with better resolution figures
available at

ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/bmochejs/PISCES/papers/4_N2158/ms.ps.gz
\\
We have undertaken a long-term project, Planets in Stellar Clusters
Extensive
Search (PISCES), to search for transiting planets in open clusters. In this
paper we present the results for NGC 2158, an intermediate age, populous
cluster. We have monitored the cluster for over 260 hours, spread over 59
nights. We have detected one candidate transiting low luminosity object,
with
eclipse depth of 3.7% in the R-band. If the host star is a member of the
cluster, the eclipse depth is consistent with a 1.7 R_J object. Cluster
membership of the host is supported by its location on the cluster main
sequence (MS) and its close proximity to the cluster center (2'). We have
discovered two other stars exhibiting low-amplitude (4-5%) transits, V64 and
V70, but they are most likely blends or field stars. Given the photometric
precision and temporal coverage of our observations, and current best
estimates
for the frequency and radii of short-period planets, the expected number of
detectable transiting planets in our sample is 0.13. We have observed four
outbursts for the candidate cataclysmic variable V57. We have discovered 40
new
variable stars in the cluster, bringing the total number of identified
variables to 97, and present for them high precision light curves, spanning
13
months.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0512198 , 931kb)

Paper: astro-ph/0501145
replaced with revised version Wed, 7 Dec 2005 20:15:56 GMT (327kb)

Title: Planets in Stellar Clusters Extensive Search. III. A search for
transiting planets in the metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791

Authors: B. J. Mochejska, K. Z. Stanek, D. D. Sasselov, A. H. Szentgyorgyi,
G.
A. Bakos, J. Devor, V. Hradecky, D. P. Marrone, J. N. Winn, M. Zaldarriaga

Comments: 18 pages LaTeX, including 11 figures and 6 tables. Limb darkening
included in the computation of the planet detection efficiency. Version with
full resolution figures available through ftp at

ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/bmochejs/PISCES/papers/3_N6791/

Journal-ref: Astron.J. 129 (2005) 2856

We have undertaken a long-term project, Planets in Stellar Clusters
Extensive Search (PISCES), to search for transiting planets in open
clusters. In this paper we present the results for NGC 6791 -- a very old,
populous, metal rich cluster. We have monitored the cluster for over 300
hours, spread over 84 nights. We have not detected any good transiting
planet candidates. Given the photometric precision and temporal coverage of
our observations, and current best estimates for the frequency and radii of
short-period planets, the expected number of detectable transiting planets
in our sample is 1.5. We have discovered 14 new variable stars in the
cluster, most of which are eclipsing binaries, and present high precision
light curves, spanning two years, for these new variables and also the
previously known variables.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0501145 , 327kb)

• Previous message: LARRY KLAES: "SETI public: The MAGIC Telescope"

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