Questions tagged [transit]
11 questions
14
votes
2 answers
What percent of planets are in the position that they could be viewed edge-on from Earth? (and thus able to undergo transits)
Star number 12644769 from the Kepler Input Catalog was identified as
an eclipsing binary with a 41-day period, from the detection of its
mutual eclipses (9). Eclipses occur because the orbital plane of the
stars is oriented nearly edge- on as…
InquilineKea
- 3,672
4
votes
1 answer
Do we use transit photometry to look for a black hole star binary systems?
What would a light curve look like for a black hole transiting a star? Initially I thought it would bend all light essentially blacking out a star but we would probably still detect some however the curve should look substantially different from a…
Joe
- 1,354
4
votes
2 answers
How could Horrocks have measured the AU?
I have always understood that the great historical significance of the transits of Venus, and the reason for the expeditions mounted to observe it, were that, by observing it simultaneously from two distant locations, the absolute distance to the…
orome
- 5,209
4
votes
2 answers
Is it easier to learn more about the seasonal changes in an exoplanet's atmosphere when the exoplanet orbits a binary star system?
From a recent ScienceDaily article, we have this...
Scientists detected the new planet in the Kepler-16 system, a pair of
orbiting stars that eclipse each other from our vantage point on
Earth. When the smaller star partially blocks the larger…
InquilineKea
- 3,672
4
votes
6 answers
What possible science could we do during the 2012 Venus transit?
I had previously asked about how useful everyday solar physics data is to other astronomers ... But about a year from now, we will have another Venus transit, where Venus will pass between the sun and the earth ...
I was just in a meeting with some…
Joe
- 1,678
3
votes
2 answers
Why does Venus transit so slowly?
I have calculated that because Venus is $d = 12,103.6~\mathrm{km}$ in diameter and moves at $v = 35.02~\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}$, it would take
$$ t=\frac{d}{v} = \frac{12,103.6~\mathrm{km}}{35.02~\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}} = 345.62~\mathrm{s} =…
Alfavoufsila
- 735
1
vote
1 answer
Between Mercury and Venus, which planet produces a longer transit? Assuming both planets describe same path on the solar disk
Is it even possible to give a definite answer to this question? There are a lot of factors involved in this like Earth's position and motion relative to the planets and of course their own motion and apparent sizes in earth's sky.
Or is it that…
peakcipher
- 11
1
vote
3 answers
How to calculate transit time for a specific section of an orbit?
I've searched high and low and I haven't been able to find a formula for this.
I'm trying to calculate the time it will take to transit through a defined arc length of an elliptical orbit, whose start and end points are equidistant from a predefined…
ddejohn
- 113
- 7
0
votes
1 answer
Is the transit technique for exoplanet detections part of the "Wide-Field Precision Photometry Revolution"?
In a exoplanet focused lecture I was informed that the two main techniques for the detection of exoplanets were: radial velocity (VR) and transit. These were very briefly explained to us.
When watching a presentation by Dr. Bender, it is stated that…
user7077252
- 769
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- 24
0
votes
2 answers
In searching for an exoplanet by observing transitions, isn't it rather rare that an orbital plane would line up with Earth?
Given that we are at a random orientation to any remote star system, it seems to me that there is only a narrow angle at which transits of exoplanets can be observed.
Imagine a large mathematical sphere with the remote system at the center, and the…
Michael
- 984
0
votes
1 answer
Can the Earth be seen to transit the sun from the outer planets?
Transit of Mercury as seen from Mars The Curiosity rover on the planet Mars observed the planet Mercury transiting the Sun, marking the first time a planetary transit has been observed from a celestial body besides Earth, on the 3rd June 2014.
This…
user81619