Thesiss

This thesis is concerned with various aspects of the detection and characterisation of transiting extra-solar planets. The noise properties of photometric data from SuperWASP, a wide-field survey instrument designed to detect exoplanets, are investigated. There has been a large …

Gravitational microlensing occurs when a massive lens (typically a star) deflects light from a more distant source, creating two unresolvable images that are magnified. The effect is transient due to the motions of the lens and source, and the changing magnification gives rise t…

The transit method is considered to be one of the most promising for discovering extrasolar planets. However, the method requires photometric precision of better than ∼ 1%. If we are able to achieve this kind of accuracy, then we are set to discover extrasolar planets. The uniqu…

Exomoons remain amongst the most elusive targets in observational astronomy. Nevertheless, these worlds stand to provide an unprecedented window into the formation and evolution of planetary systems. If the Solar System is any guide, we can expect exomoons will be geologically a…

The next generation of ground- and space-based telescopes will probe the atmospheres, and possibly the surfaces, of Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone (HZ). However, observing time will be both expensive and limited making it essential to target only the most promising pl…

In the next few years, the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), along with the construction of new ground-based observatories, will provide the opportunity to attempt atmospheric characterization of terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of nearby M dwarf stars. …