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Transit

Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Definition

In astronomy, a transit is the occurrence, as seen by an external observer, of a partial eclipse of a body (star, planet) by another body (star, planet) orbiting the first one. The transit refers to the entire duration of the phenomenon. Historically, the observations of the transit of Venus in front of the Sun as seen from Earth, and especially the ones in 1761 and 1769, have been the occasion to measure the Sun–Earth distance with a fair accuracy. The last transit of Venus across the Sun was in 2012.

The transit phenomenon presents a powerful method for detecting extrasolar planets. Thanks to the Kepler space telescope, this method has been able to detect close to 1,000 extrasolar planets. The transits of an extrasolar planet in front of its host star is also used to determine several of the planet’s parameters such as its radius, period, and eccentricity. It is also the most promising technique for characterizing exoplanets atmosphere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, 2138, Cambridge, MA, USA

    David W. Latham

  2. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, HI, USA

    Nader Haghighipour

Authors
  1. David W. Latham
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  2. Nader Haghighipour
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Correspondence to David W. Latham .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Latham, D.W., Haghighipour, N. (2014). Transit. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1603-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1603-4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Transit
    Published:
    27 July 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1603-5

  2. Original

    Transit
    Published:
    03 May 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1603-4

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