Looking for timing variations in the transits of 16 exoplanets
Aksaker, N.; Southworth, J.; Mancini, L.; Davoudi, F.; Esmer, E. M.; Baştürk, Ö.; Yalçınkaya, S.; Tekin, M.; Tezcan, F.; Tezcan, C. T.; Yeşilyaprak, C.; Fişek, S.; Kaptan, S.; Karamanlı, E.; Aliş, S.; Aladağ, Y.; Muhaymin, A.; Kutluay, A. C.; Silistre, D. İ.; Akar, F.; Demir, E.; Yılmaz, D.; Güleroğlu, E.; Taşkın, İ.; Sertkan, E.; Kurt, U. Y.; Yelkenci, F. K.; Kaya, A.; Oğlakkaya, D.; Aydın, Z. S.
Turkey, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Belgium
Abstract
We update the ephemerides of 16 transiting exoplanets using our ground-based observations, new Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite data, and previously published observations including those of amateur astronomers. All these light curves were modelled by making use of a set of quantitative criteria with the EXOFAST code to obtain mid-transit times. We searched for statistically significant secular and/or periodic trends in the mid-transit times. We found that the timing data are well modelled by a linear ephemeris for all systems except for XO-2 b, for which we detect an orbital decay with the rate of -12.95 ± 1.85 ms yr-1 that can be confirmed with future observations. We also detect a hint of potential periodic variations in the transit timing variation data of HAT-P-13 b, which also requires confirmation with further precise observations.