Transiting Exoplanets
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Author(s): Carole A. Haswell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521191838
Format: hardback
335pp
Price: £35.00, $60.00
Review Date: 12 August 2010
Review: Exoplanets are planets that orbit round stars other than the Sun. Since 1995, when the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star was found, over 400 exoplanets have been identified. This undergraduate textbook concentrates on exoplanets that are observed to transit their host stars. During a transit the apparent brightness of the host star drops by a fraction that is proportional to its area, so the size of the planet can be calculated and its density and bulk composition can be inferred. Through the study of transiting systems, the author looks at the methods used in the detection and characterization of exoplanets, giving worked examples and exercises and key points and equations. Measuring the planets atmospheric properties and its optical alignment with the stellar spin can lead to theories of planet formation and evolution. There are chapters on: Our Solar System from afar; Exoplanet discoveries by the transit method; What the transit light curve tells us; The exoplanet population; Transmission spectroscopy and the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect; Secondary eclipses and phase variations; Transit timing variations and orbital dynamics; and Brave new worlds.