Process / pipelineObservational Astronomy
Light Curve Analysis
Light curve analysis is the study of the brightness variation of a celestial object over time, used to detect and characterize exoplanets, eclipsing binaries, and variable stars. When a planet transits in front of its host star, the star's brightness dips slightly. By analyzing these photometric signatures, astronomers can determine planetary radii, orbital periods, and atmospheric properties. This method has discovered thousands of exoplanets and revealed the structure of stellar systems.
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Sources
- Ricker, G. R., et al. (2015). TESS: Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 1(1), 014003. DOI: 10.1117/1.JATIS.1.1.014003 ↗
- Borucki, W. J., et al. (2010). Kepler Planet-Detection Mission: Introduction and First Results. Science, 327(5968), 977-980. DOI: 10.1126/science.1185402 ↗
- Mandel, K., & Agol, E. (2002). Analytic Light Curves for Planetary Transits. The Astrophysical Journal, 580(2), L171. DOI: 10.1086/345520 ↗