Transiting planets manifest themselves by a periodic dimming of their host star by a fixed amount. On the other hand, light curves of transiting circumbinary (CB) planets are expected to be neither periodic nor to have a single depth while in transit, making the Box-Least-Squares (BLS) transit detection method almost ineffective. Therefore, a modified version for the identification of CB planets was developed - CB-BLS. We show that using CB-BLS it is possible to find CB planets in the residuals of light curves of eclipsing binaries (EBs) that have noise levels of 1% or more. Using CB-BLS will allow us to use the massive ground- and space-based photometric surveys to look for these objects. Detecting transiting CB planets is expected to have a wide range of implications. For instance, the frequency of CB planets depends on the planetary formation mechanism - and planets in close pairs of stars provide a most restrictive constraint on planet formation models. Furthermore, understanding very high precision light curves is limited by stellar parameters - and since for EBs the stellar parameters are much better determined, the resultant planetary structure models will have significantly smaller error bars, maybe even small enough to challenge theory.

The general relativistic precession rate of periastra in close-in exoplanets can be orders of magnitude larger than the magnitude of the same effect for Mercury. The realization that some of the close-in exoplanets have significant eccentricities raises the possibility that this precession might be detectable. We explore here the observability of the periastra precession using radial velocity and transit light curve observations. Our analysis is independent of the source of precession, which can also have significant contributions due to additional planets and tidal deformations. We find that precession of the periastra of the magnitude expected from general relativity can be detectable in timescales of ≲10 years with current observational capabilities by measuring the change in the primary transit duration or in the time difference between primary and secondary transits. Radial velocity curves alone would be able to detect this precession for super-massive, close-in exoplanets orbiting inactive stars if they have ~100 datapoints at each of two epochs separated by ~20 years. The contribution to the precession by tidal deformations may dominate the total precession in cases where the relativistic precession is detectable. Studies of transit durations with Kepler might need to take into account effects arising from the general relativistic and tidal induced precession of periastra for systems containing close-in, eccentric exoplanets. Such studies may be able to detect additional planets with masses comparable to that of Earth by detecting secular variations in the transit duration induced by the changing longitude of periastron.

By observing the transits of exoplanets, one may determine many fundamental system parameters. I review current techniques and results for the parameters that can be measured with the greatest precision, specifically, the transit times, the planetary mass and radius, and the projected spin-orbit angle.

The Universal Transit Modeller (UTM) is a light-curve simulator for all kinds of transiting or eclipsing configurations between arbitrary numbers of several types of objects, which may be stars, planets, planetary moons, and planetary rings. Applications of UTM to date have been mainly in the generation of light-curves for the testing of detection algorithms. For the preparation of such test for the Corot Mission, a special version has been used to generate multicolour light-curves in Corot's passbands. A separate fitting program, UFIT (Universal Fitter) is part of the UTM distribution and may be used to derive best fits to light-curves for any set of continuously variable parameters. UTM/UFIT is written in IDL code and its source is released in the public domain under the GNU General Public License.

This paper reviews the basic technical characteristics of the ground-based photometric searches for transiting planets, and discusses a possible observational selection effect. I suggest that additional photometric observations of the already observed fields might discover new transiting planets with periods around 4–6 days. The set of known transiting planets supports the intriguing correlation between the planetary mass and the orbital period suggested already in 2005.

Exospheric atomic hydrogen escaping from the planet HD 209458b provides the largest observational signature ever detected for an extrasolar planet atmosphere. We present observations of this transiting planet's extended exosphere with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the Hubble Space Telescope. From the two transit light curves obtained at Lyman α, we find an in-transit absorption of (8.0±5.7)%, in good agreement with previous studies. These new constraints on the size of the exosphere strengthens the evaporation scenario. Full details are provided in Ehrenreich et al. (2008).

We present a new iodine cell based approach that allows one to obtain radial velocities of the components of double-lined spectroscopic binary stars (SB2s) with a precision reaching 5 m/s. Such an RV precision is up to 100 times better than what is currently available in the literature for the SB2s. We discuss the applications of our method to the radial velocity searches for circumbinary planets and spectroscopic follow-up of transiting planet candidates around eclipsing binary stars.

Since the suggestion by Janes 1996 that star clusters might be attractive targets to search for transiting planets, there have been more than 20 searches in both open and globular clusters. To date, no confirmed hot Jupiter transiting planets have been found in clusters. We review the statistics for finding short-period planets and we summarize the open cluster work to date, including our own (so far negative) search in NGC 7789. While individually, the negative results are not surprising, the consistent failure to find planets in clusters may suggest differences in the formation or evolution of planetary systems in clusters.

The Kepler Mission is a space-based mission whose primary goal is to determine the frequency of Earth-size and larger planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. The mission will monitor more than 100,000 stars for patterns of transits with a differential photometric precision of 20 ppm at V = 12 for a 6.5 hour transit. It will also provide asteroseismic results on several thousand dwarf stars. It is specifically designed to continuously observe a single field of view of greater than 100 square degrees for 3.5 or more years.

This paper provides a short overview of the mission, a brief history of the mission development, expected results, new investigations by the recently chosen Participating Scientists, and the plans for the Guest Observer and Astrophysical Data Programs.

HATNet is a network of six identical, fully automated wide field telescopes, four of which are located in Arizona, and two at Hawaii. The purpose of the network is to search for transiting extrasolar planets around relatively bright stars (8 < I < 12). The longitudinal coverage of 3.5 hours greatly enhances transit detection efficiency. HATNet has been operational since 2004, and has taken more than 1/2 million science frames at 5-min integrations, covering about 7% of the sky. Photometric precision reaches 3mmag rms at 5.5 min cadence at I ≈ 8, and is 1% at I ≈ 11.3. Hundreds of transit candidates have been detected in the data, and have been subject to vigorous follow-up by various 1m-class facilities, both spectroscopy and follow-up photometry. A fraction of the candidates that have survived these steps as not being false alarms have been observed by high resolution and precision spectrographs (primarily Keck/HIRES), to confirm their planetary nature and characterize their properties. So far nine transiting planets have been reported, making HATNet a very successful survey.

A large program of multi-fibre (FLAMES) spectroscopic observations of the stellar population in two CoRoT/Exoplanet field with the GIRAFFE/VLT, took place in spring 2008. It aims at characterizing the brightest dwarf population and providing the ground for statistical analysis of the planetary population found by CoRoT.

To perform such an ambitious analysis, we use an automated software based on the MATISSE algorithm, originally designed for the GAIA/RVS spectral analysis. This software derives the atmospheric stellar parameters: effective temperature, surface gravity and the overall metallicity.

Further improvements are foreseen in order to measure also individual abundances. By comparing the main physical and chemical properties of the host stars to those of the stellar population they belong to, this will bring new insights into the formation and evolution of exoplanetary systems and the star-planet connection.

Transiting exoplanets provide a unique opportunity for follow up exploration through phase-differential observation of their emission and transmission spectra. From such spectra immediate clues about the atmospheric composition and the planets chemistry can be drawn. Such information is of imminent importance for the theory of the formation of planets in general as well as for their particular evolution. Ground-based spectroscopy of exoplanet transits is a needful extension of results already obtained through space-based observations. We present results of an exploratory study to use near-infrared integral field spectroscopy to observe extrasolar planets. We demonstrate how adaptive optics-assisted integral field spectroscopy compares with other spectroscopic techniques currently applied. An advanced reduction method using elements of a spectral-differential decorrelation method is also discussed. We have tested our concept with a K-Band time series observations of HD209458b and HD189733b obtained with SINFONI at the VLT and OSIRIS at Keck during secondary transits at a spectral resolution of R=3000.

DEMONEX is a low-cost, 0.5 meter, robotic telescope assembled mostly from commercially available parts dedicated to obtaining precise photometry of bright stars with transiting planets. This photometry will provide a homogeneous data set for all transits visible from its location at Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona. We will also search for additional planets via transit timing variations, measure or place limits on the albedos from secondary eclipses, systematically search known radial velocity planets for those that transit, and follow up promising KELT candidates. Despite its modest size, the signal-to-noise ratio per transit is comparable to that obtained with larger, 1m-class telescopes because of its short readout time and high z-band quantum efficiency. However, its main strength is that it will be used every night for transit follow-up and gather an unprecedented data set on transiting planets. With the 24 known transiting planets and 112 radial velocity planets visible from Winer Observatory, over 90% of all nights have at least one full event to observe.

The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) is a wide-field (26° × 26°) robotic survey telescope currently operating in Sonoita, Arizona. Assembled from commercial and off-the-shelf devices, KELT currently surveys ~40% of the Northern sky with sufficient precision to detect transiting planets around bright (8 < V < 12) stars. In the past several years of operation, over 30,000 science images have been acquired. Planet candidate selection and follow-up are currently underway. A brief overview of past and present survey operations, the data reduction pipeline, and initial results follows below.

Transiting planets are generally close enough to their host stars that tides may govern their orbital and thermal evolution. We present calculations of the tidal evolution of recently discovered transiting planets and discuss their implications. The tidal heating that accompanies this orbital evolution can be so great that it controls the planet's physical properties and may explain the large radii observed in several cases, including, for example, TrES-4. Also, since a planet's transit probability depends on its orbit, it evolves due to tides. Current values depend sensitively on the physical properties of the star and planet, as well as on the system's age. As a result, tidal effects may introduce observational biases in transit surveys, which may already be evident in current observations. Transiting planets tend to be younger than non-transiting planets, an indication that tidal evolution may have destroyed many close-in planets. Also the distribution of the masses of transiting planets may constrain the orbital inclinations of non-transiting planets.

We have now entered a phase of extrasolar planets characterization: probing their atmospheres for molecules, constraining their horizontal and vertical temperature profiles and estimating the contribution of clouds and hazes. We review here the current situation with ground-based and space-based observations, and present the transmission spectra of HD189733b in the spectral range 0.5-24 microns.

We show that a consistent fit to observed secondary eclipse data for several strongly irradiated transiting planets demands a temperature inversion (stratosphere) at altitude. Such a thermal inversion significantly influences the planet/star contrast ratios at the secondary eclipse, their wavelength dependences, and, importantly, the day-night flux contrast during a planetary orbit. The presence of the thermal inversion/stratosphere seems to roughly correlate with the stellar flux at the planet. Such temperature inversions might be caused by an upper-atmosphere absorber whose exact nature is still uncertain.

We present two separate ground-based detections of sodium in the transmission spectrum of HD 209458b. First we reanalyzed an archival data set from the HDS spectrograph on Subaru, which shows sodium at a >5σ level. Secondly, our preliminary results of a UVES/VLT data set indicate sodium absorption at a similar level, although the data cover the eclipse only partially. Both results are fully consistent with the HST results of Charbonneau et al. (2002). The Na D absorption feature seems to be resolved in the narrowest passband.

With 40 or more transiting exoplanets now known, the time is ripe to seek patterns and correlations among their observed properties, which may give important insights into planet formation, structure, and evolution. This task is made difficult by the widely different methodologies that have been applied to measure their properties in individual cases. Furthermore, in many systems our knowledge of the planet properties is limited by the knowledge of the properties of the parent stars. To address these difficulties we have undertaken the first comprehensive analysis of the data for 23 transiting planets using a uniform methodology. We revisit several of the recently proposed correlations, and find new ones involving the metallicity of the parent stars.

The light curve of an exoplanetary transit can be used to estimate the planetary radius and other parameters of interest. Because accurate parameter estimation is a non-analytic and computationally intensive problem, it is often useful to have analytic approximations for the parameters as well as their uncertainties and covariances. Here we give such formulas, for the case of an exoplanet transiting a star with a uniform brightness distribution. When limb darkening is significant, our parameter sets are still useful, although our analytic formulas underpredict the covariances and uncertainties.