Transit Detectability of Ring Systems around Extrasolar Giant Planets
Open accessAbstract
We investigate whether rings around extrasolar planets could be detected from those planets' transit light curves. To this end, we develop a basic theoretical framework for calculating and interpreting the light curves of ringed planet transits on the basis of the existing framework used for stellar occultations, a technique that has been effective for discovering and probing ring systems in the solar system. We find that the detectability of large Saturn-like ring systems is largest during ingress and egress and that a reasonable photometric precision of ~(1-3) × 10 -4 with 15 minute time resolution should be sufficient to discover such ring systems. For some ring particle sizes, diffraction around individual particles leads to a detectable level of forward-scattering that can be used to measure modal ring particle diameters. An initial census of large ring systems can be carried out using high-precision follow-up observations of detected transits and by the upcoming NASA Kepler mission. The distribution of ring systems as a function of stellar age and as a function of planetary semimajor axis will provide empirical evidence to help constrain how rings form and how long rings last.
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Transits of giant planets with ring systems produce a distinct and detectable light curve.
“The transits of giant planets with ring systems produce a distinct and detectable light curve (Barnes & Fortney 2004;Tusnski & Valio 2011), and searches for the transit timing variations caused by attendant exomoons are ongoing (Kipping et al. 2012(Kipping et al. , 2013)).”
From MODELING GIANT EXTRASOLAR RING SYSTEMS IN ECLIPSE AND THE CASE OF J1407B: SCULPTING BY EXOMOONS? (2015) · cites this paper as Barnes & Fortney 2004
There has been negligible investigation of the observability of the dense proto-satellite disks that likely existed during the first about 10^7 years.
“there has been negligible investigation of the observability of the dense proto-satellite disks that likely existed during the first ∼10 7 years.”
From PLANETARY CONSTRUCTION ZONES IN OCCULTATION: DISCOVERY OF AN EXTRASOLAR RING SYSTEM TRANSITING A YOUNG SUN-LIKE STAR AND FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR DETECTING ECLIPSES BY CIRCUMSECONDARY AND CIRCUMPLANETARY DISKS (2012) · cites this paper as Barnes & Fortney 2004
Section 2.2 discusses how the prevalence of planetary rings might vary with stellar age, and the Abstract addresses detecting Saturn-like rings in transit light curves. Neither passage addresses whether dense proto-satellite disks existed during the first ~10^7 years or how much their observability has been investigated. Searches for proto-satellite disks and that timescale found no relevant passage in our copy; page numbers were unavailable. (LLM, conf=0.72)
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Sorted by citations
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“While there have been studies investigating the detectability of thin, discrete planetary rings similar to Saturn’s (e.g. Barnes & Fortney 2004; Ohta et al. 2009), there has been negligible investigation of the observability of the dense proto-satellite disks that likely existed during the first…”
BackgroundMODELING GIANT EXTRASOLAR RING SYSTEMS IN ECLIPSE AND THE CASE OF J1407B: SCULPTING BY EXOMOONS?
Kenworthy, M. A., & Mamajek, E. E. (2015) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/800/2/126 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
“The transits of giant planets with ring systems produces a distinct and detectable light curve (Barnes & Fortney 2004; Tusnski & Valio 2011), and searches for the transit timing variations caused by attendant exomoons are ongoing (Kipping et al. 2012, 2013).”
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- Authors
- Barnes, J. W., & Fortney, J. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Ames Research Center (US)
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2004-12
- Volume
- 616
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 1193-1203
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2060286211
- Cited by
- 132
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Instrumentation › Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
- Keywords
- planetary rings, exoplanets, giant planets, transit light curves, stellar occultation, ring particle size, forward scattering, diffraction, Kepler mission
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