Star-spot crossing transits in long-cadence Kepler data: a search for correlations between spot and stellar properties
Abstract
As visible manifestations of strong magnetic fields, starspots provide an opportunity for us to explore small-scale properties of magnetic fields. With the launch of NASA's Kepler satellite, we now have access to near-continuous high-precision photometry of thousands of transiting planet host stars that we can use to study starspots. We have written a program that uses long cadence photometry of all transiting planet host stars to measure starspot variability caused as the planet transverses in front of starspots. Through our program, we identified host stars whose light curves are strongly affected by in-transit starspots. We are using this sample to investigate correlations between the presence of starspots and global stellar parameters such as effective temperature and rotation period. In addition, we are using the known position and impact parameter of the planet to explore the latitude of the starspots on the transiting planet host stars.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #225
- Pub Date:
- January 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015AAS...22513831G