Researchers have found that a star's magnetic field plays a crucial role in accurately determining the characteristics of exoplanets observed by space telescopes. The distribution of the star's brightness over its disk is influenced by its level of magnetic activity, which in turn affects the signature of an exoplanet in observational data. The findings highlight the need to consider a star's magnetic field when interpreting data from telescopes like Kepler, James Webb, or PLATO.
A star's magnetic field must be considered in order to correctly determine the characteristics of exoplanets from observations by space telescopes such as Kepler , James Webb , or PLATO . Researchers show that the distribution of the star's brightness over its disk depends on the star's level of magnetic activity. This, in turn, affects the signature of an exoplanet in observational data.
"The problems arising when interpreting the data from WASP-39b are well known from many other exoplanets -- regardless whether they are observed with Kepler, TESS, James Webb, or the future PLATO spacecraft," explains MPS scientist Dr. Nadiia Kostogryz, first author of the new study."As with other stars orbited by exoplanets, the observed light curve of WASP-39 is flatter than previous models can explain," she adds.
The researchers were also able to prove that the discrepancy between observational data and model calculations disappears if the star's magnetic field is included in the computations. To this end, the team turned to selected data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, which captured the light of thousands and thousands of stars from 2009 to 2018. In a first step, the scientists modeled the atmosphere of typical Kepler stars in the presence of a magnetic field.
Star Magnetic Field Exoplanets Observations Space Telescopes Kepler James Webb PLATO
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