Transit timing variations of the exoplanet K2-25b
Name
1048401506-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
6.03 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
3a99e0ebbd06dc517b4450a3d0624fa7
Author(s)
Nisley, Ishara
Advisor(s)
Amanda Bosh.
Date Issued
2017
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Transit light curves of the exoplanet K2-25b were studied to examine the possibility of transit timing variations (TTVs) in the system, which could imply the presence of a perturbing planet. Observations of K2-25b transits were taken using 14-inch and 24-inch telescopes at Wallace Astrophysical Observatory. Two transit light curves were fit using an MCMC implementation to find the orbital period, planetary radius, and semi-major axis. A new period calculation yielded an orbital period of 3.48457 +/-0.00004, consistent with the period of 3.484552 +0.000044/-0.000036 from Mann et al. 2016. No significant variations were found in the midtimes of the new transit observations when comparing them to the midtime originally published in Mann et al. 2016. Future observations will require smaller uncertainties to meaningfully constrain the mass and period of potential perturbing planets. Signal-to-noise ratio calculations showed that telescopes over approximately 2.2 meters in diameter have better potential to detect small TTVs.
Description
Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2017.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "May 16, 2017." "This thesis was submitted to the Institute Archives without all the required signatures"--Disclaimer Notice page.
Includes bibliographical references (page 53).
Subjects
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
