What feature of the resulting plot of brightness over time characterizes the light curve during a transit event?
Answer
A characteristic, brief dip in brightness
When astronomers plot the recorded stellar brightness over time, the resulting graph is known as a light curve. During a transit event, when the exoplanet moves across the face of its parent star relative to the observer, it temporarily blocks a small portion of the emitted light. This blockage manifests on the light curve as a specific signature: a characteristic, brief dip in brightness. The extent to which the light drops, known as the depth of the dip, is directly proportional to the relative sizes of the planet and the star, while the return to normal brightness marks the end of the transit event.
Related Questions
What does the time interval between successive dips in brightness measure in transit observations?What geometric constraint causes the transit method to inherently fail to detect some exoplanetary systems?What crucial factor for assessing planetary composition (rock vs. gas) requires combining transit data with radial velocity data?What feature of the resulting plot of brightness over time characterizes the light curve during a transit event?Why is the transit method significantly more sensitive for detecting planets around M-dwarfs than around large, bright stars like the Sun?What must an astronomer know accurately to calculate the radius of a transiting planet using transit depth data?What is the significance of 'periodicity' in identifying a true planetary signal using the transit method?Which physical characteristic of an exoplanet cannot be revealed solely by utilizing the transit method?When observing our Sun, what precision level in luminosity measurement is required to detect the transit of Jupiter?Which complementary technique measures the stellar wobble caused by a planet's gravitational tug to yield the planet's mass?