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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2016
As a planet eclipses its parent star, a dark starspot may be occulted, causing a detectable variation in the light curve. This work describes how features on the surface of a solar-like star can be studied by using planetary transits. Images of the Sun were used in order to simulate such transits, with the planet being modeled as a dark disk at various positions along its orbit. From modeling of these transits it might be possible to infer the physical properties of the spots, such as size, intensity, position, and temperature. Recent transits observations for HD 209458 were used as tests to the model. The results yield that the limb darkening of HD 209458 is not like that of the Sun, but rather follows a quadratic function. The dark features studied have radii varying between 3 — 6 104 km, and probably represent a group of spots, namely an active region. As for the temperature, these spots are hotter than sunspots with a temperature range of 4900-5500 K.