Following up the Kepler field with PLATO : Transit Timing Performance

Clicks: 1
ID: 317777
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #853 of 908 articles by views in monthly notices of the royal astronomical society

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 908 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract The European Space Agency is set to launch PLATO, the third medium-class mission of its Cosmic Vision programme, in early 2027. Using the transit method, PLATO is expected to detect thousands of exoplanets orbiting bright, nearby stars of spectral types F5–K7. Although the mission is primarily designed to enable mass measurements via radial velocities, its precise photometry and long observational baselines may also permit the detection of transit timing variations (TTVs), which can provide complementary dynamical constraints in multi-planet systems. One possible PLATO observing scenario involves a two-year-long observation of a Northern field that may partially or fully overlap with the original Kepler field, creating an opportunity to revisit known multi-planet systems with a photometric baseline exceeding 20 years. We simulate PLATO observations of 152 Kepler host stars containing at least one planet with previously detected TTVs, yielding a sample of 361 transiting planets. Our CCD-level simulations incorporate realistic stellar variability and employ both aperture and point spread function (PSF)-fitting photometry, accounting for each target’s real photometric contaminants. While the extended temporal baseline offers the potential for improved dynamical constraints in favourable cases, our simulations show that this potential is strongest for carefully selected systems, as PLATO’s smaller collecting area and larger pixel scale limit the achievable per-transit precision relative to Kepler. We identify a subset of systems most likely to benefit from complementary dynamical constraints through PLATO observations.
Reference Key
openalex_W7165371720 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors M. Mitchell, J McCormac, D. Pollacco, Emmanuel Grolleau, Nicholas Jannsen, D. R. Reese, R. Samadi, Yoshi Nike Emilia Eschen, Ioannis Apergis, James A. Blake, D. J. A. Brown, Lauren Doyle, Isobel S Lockley, Lixian Shen
Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag1174
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1174
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.