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| Detecting small starspots with the transit mapping method |
| András Haris-Kiss |
| University of Helsinki |
| Transit mapping is an effective method for detecting small starspots that may go unnoticed with other techniques used to study active stars' surfaces. The Kepler and TESS space telescopes provide high-precision transit light curves for a large number of stars. The accuracy of these observations allows us to identify spot occultations that occur during planetary transits. We conduct a systematic search for spot-transiting events using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach on all 60s and 120s cadence Kepler and TESS light curves of late-type stars with known transiting exoplanets. A more comprehensive occurrence statistics for small spots are presented for the Kepler and TESS sample. The geometric properties of the identified spots can be used to constrain the parameters of the stellar dynamo on these planet-hosting stars, which has implications for the atmospheric evolution and habitability of their planets. |