Light curve of exoplanet KELT-11b
Date: 16 April 2020
Satellite: CHEOPS
Copyright: CHEOPS Mission Consortium
Light curve of the exoplanet transit of planet KELT-11b in front of its host star, HD 93396, based on observations performed by ESA's CHEOPS mission.
HD 93396 is a subgiant yellow star located 320 light-years away, slightly cooler and three times larger than our Sun. It hosts a puffy gaseous planet, KELT-11b, about 30% larger in size than Jupiter, in an orbit that is much closer to the star than Mercury is to the Sun.
During its in-orbit commissioning, ESA's CHEOPS mission observed a transit of KELT-11b in front of its host star. The light curve of this star shows a clear dip caused by the eight hour-long transit of KELT-11b, which enabled scientists to determine very precisely the diameter of the planet: 181 600 km – with an uncertainty just under 4300 km.
The measurements made by CHEOPS are five times more accurate than those from Earth, providing a taster for the science to come from the CHEOPS mission.
