Precise Photometry and Spectroscopy of Transits

A planetary transit produces both a photometric signal and a spectroscopic signal. Precise observations of the transit light curve reveal the planetary radius and allow a search for timing anomalies caused by satellites or additional planets. Precise measurements of the stellar Doppler shift throughout a transit (the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect) place a lower bound on the stellar obliquity, which may be indicative of the planet’s migration history. I review recent results of the Transit Light Curve project, and of a parallel effort to measure the Rossiter effect for many of the known transiting planets.