Transit-timing variation
Transit-timing variation is a method for detecting exoplanets by observing variations in the timing of a transit. This provides an extremely sensitive method capable of detecting additional planets in the system with masses potentially as small as that of Earth.[1][2][3] "Timing variation" asks whether the transit occurs with strict periodicity or if there's a variation.
The first significant detection of a non-transiting planet using transit-timing variations was carried out with NASA's Kepler telescope. The transiting planet Kepler-19b shows transit-timing variation with an amplitude of 5 minutes and a period of about 300 days, indicating the presence of a second planet, Kepler-19c, which has a period that is a near-rational multiple of the period of the transiting planet.[4][5]
In 2010, researchers proposed a second planet orbiting WASP-3 based on transit-timing variation,[6][7] but this proposal was debunked in 2012.[8]
Transit-timing variation was used to discover Kepler-9d and gained popularity by 2012 for confirming exoplanet discoveries.[9]
References
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- ↑ Invisible World Discovered, NASA Kepler News, 8 September 2011
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- ↑ Planet found tugging on transits, Astronomy Now, 9 July 2010
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- ↑ The Transit Timing Variation (TTV) Planet-finding Technique Begins to Flower
