Stellar activity can mimic misaligned exoplanets
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - 08:31
in Astronomy & Space
The occultation of stellar active regions during the planetary transit can lead to inaccurate estimates of the characteristics of these exoplanets, especially the spin-orbit tilt angle. This was the conclusion of simulations made by a team of astronomers from the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) in Portugal, and Institute of Astrophysics of Georg-August University of Göttingen, in Germany.