The observation of transit light curves has become a key technique in the study of exoplanets, since modeling the resulting transit photometry yields a wealth of information on the planetary systems. Considering that the limited accuracy of ground-based photometry does directly translate into uncertainties in the derived model parameters, simplified spherical planet models were appropriate in the past. With the advent of space-based instrumentation capable of providing photometry of unprecedented accuracy, however, a need for more realistic models has arisen.

We present new transit observations of the transiting exoplanet TrES-3b obtained in the range 2009 – 2011 at several observatories. The orbital parameters of the system were redetermined and the new linear ephemeris was calculated. We performed numerical simulations for studying the long-term stability of orbits.

To date, there are several reported exoplanet detections within binary star systems. These findings are based on radial velocity data for the target star. However, the companion star could in turn have a companion of which we are not aware. We describe how this hidden binary system affects the radial velocity of the target star, mimicking a planet in some circumstances We also explain what can be done in practice in order to distinguish between these two effects.

Exoplanets orbiting rapidly rotating stars may have unusual light curve shapes. These objects transit across an oblate disk with non-isotropic surface brightness, caused by the gravitational darkening. If such asymmetries are measured, one can infer the orbital obliquity of the exoplanet and the gravity darkened star, even without the analysis of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect or interferometry. Here we introduce KOI-13 as the first example of a transiting system with a gravity darkened star.

We report on the simultaneous g′,r′,i′,z′ multiband, high time sampling (18-24s) ground-based photometric observations, which we use to measure the planetary radius and orbital inclination of the extrasolar transiting hot Jupiter WASP-4b. We recorded 987 images during three complete transits with the GROND instrument, mounted on the MPG/ESO-2.2m telescope at La Silla Observatory. Assuming a quadratic law for the stellar limb darkening we derive system parameters by fitting a composite transit light curve over all bandpasses simultaneously. To compute uncertainties of the fitted parameters we employ the Bootstrap Monte Carlo Method. The three central transit times are measured with precision down to 6 s. We find a planetary radius Rp = 1.413 ± 0.020RJup, an orbital inclination i = 88.°57 ± 0.45° and calculate new ephemeris, a period P = 1.33823144 ± 0.00000032 days and reference transit epoch T0 = 2454697.798311 ± 0.000046 (BJD). The analysis of the new transit mid-times in combination with previous measurements imply a constant orbital period and no compelling evidence for TTVs due to additional bodies in the system.

The Heliospheric Imagers (HI) onboard the STEREO satellites are observing an abundance of background stars as they follow their respective Sun-centered orbits. These are wide-angled CCD cameras with a 20°×20° field of view, directed ~14° from the solar disk. These imagers monitor 20% of the sky over one year, providing light curves for over 500,000 stars down to 12th magnitude and brighter than 7th. We are currently analysing the photometric data from the HI-1 cameras, obtained since March 2007. Following a standard data reduction of the raw photometric images, the resultant light curves underwent a sequence of detrending procedures to minimize systematics in the data, which can contribute to red noise. A transit search was performed using the BLS algorithm, which is sensitive to the box-like shape associated with planetary transits. The resulting candidates were subjected to a number of false-alarm tests to determine the most promising candidates and these were investigated further, visually and using available catalogue data. Possible new exoplanet and binary candidates will now be submitted for follow-up photometric and spectroscopic observations to confirm their nature.

M. Richards: Several talks today have expressed fuzzy boundaries to describe the objects called “stars.” Is the following classification correct? Are stars restricted to objects that have masses greater than 0.089 solar masses and begin making energy with hydrogen burning? Do we include the stellar remnants: the white dwarfs and neturon stars? Do we include the brown dwarfs because they burn lithium or deuterium. We know that planets are not in this group since they have no energy production.

In this review I will present recent results between 2007 and 2011 based on interferometric observations of binaries and multiple systems with the VLTI, NPOI, SUSI and CHARA instruments. I will also explain the kind of constraints an interferometer can provide in order to better understand the physics of multiple systems.

Progress in a number of technical areas is enabling imaging and interferometric observations at both smaller angular separations from bright stars and at deeper relative contrast levels. Here we discuss recent progress in several ongoing projects at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. First, extreme adaptive optics wavefront correction has recently enabled the use of very short (i.e., blue) wavelengths to resolve close binaries. Second, phase-based coronagraphy has recently allowed observations of faint companions to within nearly one diffraction beam width of bright stars. Finally, rotating interferometers that can observe inside the diffraction beam of single aperture telescopes are being developed to detect close-in companions and bright exozodiacal dust. This paper presents a very brief summary of the techniques involved, along with some illustrative results.

Three-dimensional Doppler tomography of interacting binaries has now provided some interesting perspectives of the gas flows beyond the central plane corresponding to the orbital plane. These images suggest that the magnetic field of the mass losing star influences the gas flows in some cases. Earlier 2D tomograms displayed evidence of gas flows associated with the gas stream, accretion disks, accretion annuli, and hot spots as well as evidence of magnetic flows associated with the mass loser. These indirect images have revealed the active environments that exist in the slow-mass-transfer Algols, cataclysmic variables, polars, x-ray binaries, and gamma ray binaries.

Polarimetry is a useful diagnostic of asymmetries in both circumstellar environments and binary star systems. Its sensitivity to asymmetries in systems means that it can help to uncover details about system orbital parameters, including providing information about the orbital inclination. Polarimetry can probe the circumstellar and/or circumbinary material as well. A number of significant results on binary systems have been produced by polarimetric studies. One might therefore expect that polarimetry could similarly play a useful role in studies of exoplanets, and a number of possible diagnostics for exoplanets have been proposed. However, the application of polarimetry to exoplanet research is only in preliminary stages, and the difficulties with applying the technique to exoplanets are non-trivial. This review will discuss the successes of polarimetry in analyzing binary systems, and consider the possibilities and challenges for extending similar analysis to exoplanet systems.

The current direct observations of brown dwarfs and exoplanets have been obtained using instruments not specifically designed for overcoming the large contrast ratio between the host star and any wide-separation faint companions. However, we are about to witness the birth of several new dedicated observing platforms specifically geared towards high contrast imaging of these objects. The Gemini Planet Imager, VLT-SPHERE, Subaru HiCIAO, and Project 1640 at the Palomar 5m telescope will return images of numerous exoplanets and brown dwarfs over hundreds of observing nights in the next five years. Along with diffraction-limited coronagraphs and high-order adaptive optics, these instruments also will return spectral and polarimetric information on any discovered targets, giving clues to their atmospheric compositions and characteristics. Such spectral characterization will be key to forming a detailed theory of comparative exoplanetary science which will be widely applicable to both exoplanets and brown dwarfs. Further, the prevalence of aperture masking interferometry in the field of high contrast imaging is also allowing observers to sense massive, young planets at solar system scales (~3–30 AU)— separations out of reach to conventional direct imaging techniques. Such observations can provide snapshots at the earliest phases of planet formation—information essential for constraining formation mechanisms as well as evolutionary models of planetary mass companions. As a demonstration of the power of this technique, I briefly review recent aperture masking observations of the HR 8799 system. Moreover, all of the aforementioned techniques are already extremely adept at detecting low-mass stellar companions to their target stars, and I present some recent highlights.

Lowrance et al. (2000) found a faint companion candidate about 4 arcsec south of the young A0-type star HR 7329. Its spectral type of M7-8 is consistent with a young brown dwarf companion. Here we report spectroscopic J band observations using the integral field spectrograph SINFONI at VLT, enabling a new estimation of effective temperature, extinction and surface gravity of the object and hence its mass. Although the data were reduced carefully, the presence of a spike within the point spread function of the object in each spectral image hampered the precise estimation of the properties of HR 7329. Nevertheless, we will show with the example of this sub-stellar companion how mass estimates independent of evolutionary models of directly imaged sub-stellar companions can be obtained, after removing most of the strong influence of the spike in the present data, and present a new mass estimation of HR 7329 B/b based on the values gained.

Binary or multiple stars are common in our neighbourhood, and many of the exoplanets we know of belong to a star in such a system. The influence of a second star on planet formation can be probed by comparing properties of planets in binary/multiple-star systems with those of single-star planets. We present some of the results from our Lucky Imaging survey for binary companions to hosts of transiting exoplanets.

The data collection and data analysis pipeline for the study and imaging of interacting binaries is outlined. This process includes the systematic collection of time-resolved spectra of individual systems, data reduction including subtraction of the stellar spectra, application of tomography codes to reveal images of the gas flows in 2D and 3D, comparison of the observed spectrum with synthetic spectra of the accretion disk and gas stream, and application of 3D visualization techniques.

The differentially rotating convective envelope is an indispensable element of the magnetic dynamo working in RS CVn-systems. Tidal coupling is responsible for maintaining fast rotation, and also the observed high level of magnetic activity. In this work, we compare the physical properties of two well known RS CVn-type binaries, that is the long-period system σ Gem and the ellipsoidal variable ζ And. For the comparison, we use the results obtained from processing time-series Doppler images. We also aim at understanding how differential rotation could be affected by tidal forces in such close binaries.

V405 And is an ultrafast-rotating (Prot ≈ 0.46 days) eclipsing binary. The system consists of a primary star with radiative core and convective envelope, and a fully convective secondary. Theories have shown that stellar structure can depend on magnetic activity, i.e., magnetically active M-dwarfs should have larger radii. Earlier light curve modelling of V405 And indeed showed this behaviour: we found that the radius of the primary is significantly larger than the theoretically predicted value for inactive main sequence stars (the discrepancy is the largest of all known objects), while the secondary fits well to the mass-radius relation. By modelling our recently obtained light curves, which show significant changes of the spotted surface of the primary, we can find further proof for this phenomenon.

The 2D and 3D Doppler tomograms of X-ray binary system Cyg X-1 (V1357 Cyg) were reconstructed from spectral data for the line HeII 4686Å obtained with 2-m telescope of the Peak Terskol Observatory (Russia) and 2.1-m telescope of the Mexican National Observatory in June, 2007. Information about gas motions outside the orbital plane, using all of the three velocity components Vx, Vy, Vz, was obtained for the first time. The tomographic reconstruction was carried out for the system inclination angle of 45°. The equal resolution (50 × 50 × 50 km/s) is realized in this case, in the orbital plane (Vx, Vy) and also in the perpendicular direction Vz. The checkout tomograms were realized also for the inclination angle of 40° because of the angle uncertainty. Two versions of the result showed no qualitative discrepancy. Details of the structures revealed by the 3D Doppler tomogram were analyzed.

We propose to measure the radii of the Penn State - Toruń Planet Search (PTPS) exoplanet host star candidates using the CHARA Array. Stellar radii estimated from spectroscopic analysis are usually inaccurate due to indirect nature of the method and strong evolutionary model dependency. Also, the so-called degeneracy of stellar evolutionary tracks due to convergence of many tracks in the giant branch decreases the precision of such estimates. However, the radius of a star is a critical parameter for the calculation of stellar luminosity and mass, which are often not well known especially for giants. With well determined effective temperature (from spectroscopy) and radius, the luminosity may be calculated precisely. In turn also stellar mass may be estimated much more precisely. Therefore, direct radii measurements increase precision in the determination of planetary candidates masses and the surface temperatures of the planets.

In the 1990s of the last century, CCD cameras became more reachable. Due to many advantages of CCD cameras, astronomers began using them as the primary detector for photometry of stellar objects. A typical observatory, which operates one telescope at a time, obtained 0.5 TB of raw data during two decades, that means one million about 500 kB-sized files. There are several observatories in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (taking into account all scientific, public as well as private ones). A rough estimate of the total amount of this photometric data is 10 TB, which could be a very interesting source of observational data. Unfortunately, these data are not available online. These data are stored in observatory archives in arbitrary format. Often it is not even possible to find requested data. We have decided to change this state by establishing a common archive of raw photometric data, which would be available online together with tools for searching, listing etc. We already defined the data format, file and directory structure of our archive. We developed sophisticated tools for archive maintenance as well. Our goal is to provide data storage with simple and straightforward access and we are ready to interconnect with the VO right after the IVOA Photometry Data Model will be released.