On the search for transits of the planets orbiting Gliese 876

Shankland, P. D. and Rivera, E. J. and Laughlin, G. and Blank, D. L. and Price, A. and Gary, B. and Bissinger, R. and Ringwald, F. and White, G. and Henry, G. W. and McGee, P. and Wolf, A. S. and Carter, B. and Lee, S. and Biggs, J. and Monard, B. and Ashley, M. C. B. (2006) On the search for transits of the planets orbiting Gliese 876. The Astrophysical Journal, 653 (1). pp. 700-707. ISSN 0004-637X

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Abstract

We report the results of a globally coordinated photometric campaign to search for transits by the P-30 day and P-60 day nearby M-dwarf Gl 876. These two planets experience strong mutual perturbations, which necessitate use of a dynamical (four-body) model to compute transit ephemerides for the system. Our photometric data have been collected from published archival sources, as well as from our photometric campaigns that were targeted to specific
transit predictions. Our analysis indicates that transits by planet 'c' (P-30 days) do not currently occur, in concordance with the best-fit i=50◦ coplanar configuration obtained by dynamical fits to the most recent radial velocity data for the system. Transits by planet 'b' (P-60 day) are not entirely ruled out by our observations, but our data indicate that it is very unlikely that they occur.
Our experience with the Gl 876 system suggests that a distributed ground-based network of small telescopes can be used to search for transits of very low mass M-stars by terrestrial-sized planets.

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Item Type:	Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C)
Refereed:	Yes
Item Status:	Live Archive
Additional Information:	Published version made accessible, in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
Faculty / Department / School:	Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Biological and Physical Sciences
Date Deposited:	11 Oct 2007 00:56
Last Modified:	24 Mar 2017 03:12
Uncontrolled Keywords:	planetary systems; stars; Gl 876; planets; satellites
Fields of Research :	02 Physical Sciences > 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences > 020110 Stellar Astronomy and Planetary Systems 02 Physical Sciences > 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences > 020108 Planetary Science (excl. Extraterrestrial Geology)
Socio-Economic Objective:	E Expanding Knowledge > 97 Expanding Knowledge > 970102 Expanding Knowledge in the Physical Sciences
Identification Number or DOI:	10.1086/508562
URI:	http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/2056

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