We present radial velocity follow-up observations of K2-19, a compact planetary system hosting three planets, of which the two larger ones, K2-19b and K2-19c, are close to the 3: 2 mean motion resonance. An analysis considering only the radial velocity measurements detects K2-19b, the larger and more massive planet in the system, with a mass of 54.8 +/- 7.5 M-circle plus and provides a marginal detection of K2-19c, with a mass of M-c = 5.9(-4.3)(+7.6) M-circle plus. We also used the TRADES code to simultaneously model both our RV measurements and the existing transit timing measurements. We derived a mass of 54.4 +/- 8.9 M-circle plus for K2-19b and of 7.5(-1.4)(+3.0) M-circle plus for K2-19c. For K2-19b, these masses are consistent with a previous determination that was principally based on a photodynamical analysis of the K2-19 light curve. Differences remain mainly in the mass determination of the more lightweight planet, driven likely by the limited precision of the RV measurements and possibly some as yet unrecognized systematics.

Time-series photometry of the CoRoT field SRc02 was obtained by the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II (BEST II) in 2009. The main aim was to conduct a ground-based follow-up of the CoRoT field in order to detect variable stars with better spatial resolution than what can be achieved with the CoRoT Space Telescope. A total of 1846 variable stars were detected, of which only 30 have been previously known. For nine eclipsing binaries the stellar parameters were determined by modeling their light curves.

Observing sites at the East-Antarctic plateau are considered to provide exceptional conditions for astronomy. The aim of this work is to assess its potential for detecting transiting extrasolar planets through a comparison and combination of photometric data from Antarctica with time series from a midlatitude site. During 2010, the two small aperture telescopes ASTEP 400 (Dome C) and BEST II (Chile) together performed an observing campaign of two target fields and the transiting planet WASP-18b. For the latter, a bright star, Dome C appears to yield an advantageous signal-to-noise ratio. For field surveys, both Dome C and Chile appear to be of comparable photometric quality. However, within two weeks, observations at Dome C yield a transit detection efficiency that typically requires a whole observing season in Chile. For the first time, data from Antarctica and Chile have been combined to extent the observational duty cycle. This approach is both feasible in practice and favorable for transit search, as it increases the detection yield by 12-18%.

A photometric survey of three southern target fields with BEST II yielded the detection of 2406 previously unknown variable stars and an additional 617 stars with suspected variability. This study presents a catalog including their coordinates, magnitudes, light curves, ephemerides, amplitudes, and type of variability. In addition, the variability of 17 known objects is confirmed, thus validating the results. The catalog contains a number of known and new variables that are of interest for further astrophysical investigations, in order to, e.g., search for additional bodies in eclipsing binary systems, or to test stellar interior models. Altogether, 209,070 stars were monitored with BEST II during a total of 128 nights in 2009/2010. The overall variability fraction of 1.2%-1.5% in these target fields is well comparable to similar ground-based photometric surveys. Within the main magnitude range of R epsilon [11, 17], we identify 0.67(3)% of all stars to be eclipsing binaries, which indicates a completeness of about one third for this particular type in comparison to space surveys.

Time-series photometry of the CoRoT field SRa01 was carried out with the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II in 2008/2009. A total of 1161 variable stars were detected, of which 241 were previously known and 920 are newly found. Several new, variable young stellar objects have been discovered. The study of the spatial distribution of eclipsing binaries revealed the higher relative frequency of Algols toward the center of the young open cluster NGC 2264. In general Algol frequency obeys an isotropic distribution of their angular momentum vectors, except inside the cluster, where a specific orientation of the inclinations is the case. We suggest that we see the orbital plane of the binaries almost edge-on.

We present a new observational campaign, Dwarf, aimed at detection of circumbinary extrasolar planets using the timing of the minima of low-mass eclipsing binaries. The observations will be performed within an extensive network of relatively small to medium-size telescopes with apertures of similar to 20-200 cm. The starting sample of the objects to be monitored contains (i) low-mass eclipsing binaries with M and K components, (ii) short-period binaries with a sdB or sdO component, and (iii) post-common-envelope systems containing a WD, which enable to determine minima with high precision. Since the amplitude of the timing signal increases with the orbital period of an invisible third component, the timescale of the project is long, at least 5-10 years. The paper gives simple formulas to estimate the suitability of individual eclipsing binaries for the circumbinary planet detection. Intrinsic variability of the binaries (photospheric spots, flares, pulsation etc.) limiting the accuracy of the minima timing is also discussed. The manuscript also describes the best observing strategy and methods to detect cyclic timing variability in the minima times indicating the presence of circumbinary planets. First test observations of the selected targets are presented ((c) 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The CoRoT field LRa02 has been observed with the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II (BEST II) during the southern summer 2007/2008. A first analysis of stellar variability led to the publication of 345 newly discovered variable stars. Now, a deeper analysis of this data set was used to optimize the variability search procedure. Several methods and parameters have been tested in order to improve the selection process compared to the widely used J index for variability ranking. This paper describes an empirical approach to treat systematic trends in photometric data based upon the analysis of variance statistics that can significantly decrease the rate of false detections. Finally, the process of reanalysis and method improvement has virtually doubled the number of variable stars compared to the first analysis by Kabath et al. A supplementary catalog of 272 previously unknown periodic variables plus 52 stars with suspected variability is presented. Improved ephemerides are given for 19 known variables in the field. In addition, the BEST II results are compared with CoRoT data and its automatic variability classification.

The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope is a small-aperture, wide-field telescope dedicated to time-series photometric observations. During an initial commissioning phase at the Thueringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Germany, and subsequent operations at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France, a 3.1 {\deg} x 3.1 {\deg} circumpolar field close to the galactic plane centered at ({\alpha}, {\delta}) = (02h 39m 23s, +52{\deg} 01' 46") (J 2000.0) was observed between 2001 August and 2006 December during 52 nights. From the 32129 stars observed, a subsample of 145 stars with clear stellar variability was detected out of which 125 are newly identified variable objects. For five bright objects, the system parameters were derived by modeling the light curve.

The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope (BEST) wide-angle telescope installed at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence and operated in remote control from Berlin by the Institut für Planetenforschung, DLR, has observed the CoRoT target fields prior to the mission. The resulting archive of stellar photometric light curves is used to search for deep transit events announced during CoRoT's alarm mode to aid in fast photometric confirmation of these events. The "initial run" field of CoRoT (IRa01) was observed with BEST in 2006 November and December for 12 nights. The first "long run" field (LRc01) was observed from 2005 June to September for 35 nights. After standard CCD data reduction, aperture photometry has been performed using the ISIS image subtraction method. About 30,000 light curves were obtained in each field. Transits of the first detected planets by the CoRoT mission, CoRoT-1b and CoRoT-2b, were found in archived data of the BEST survey and their light curves are presented here. Such detections provide useful information at the early stage of the organization of follow-up observations of satellite alarm-mode planet candidates. In addition, no period change was found over ∼4 years between the first BEST observation and last available transit observations.

The CoRoT exoplanet science team announces the discovery of CoRoT-11b, a fairly massive hot-Jupiter transiting a V=12.9 mag F6 dwarf star (M*=1.27 +/- 0.05 Msun, R*=1.37 +/- 0.03 Rsun, Teff=6440 +/- 120 K), with an orbital period of P=2.994329 +/- 0.000011 days and semi-major axis a=0.0436 +/- 0.005 AU. The detection of part of the radial velocity anomaly caused by the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect shows that the transit-like events detected by CoRoT are caused by a planet-sized transiting object in a prograde orbit. The relatively high projected rotational velocity of the star (vsini=40+/-5 km/s) places CoRoT-11 among the most rapidly rotating planet host stars discovered so far. With a planetary mass of mp=2.33+/-0.34 Mjup and radius rp=1.43+/-0.03 Rjup, the resulting mean density of CoRoT-11b (rho=0.99+/-0.15 g/cm^3) can be explained with a model for an inflated hydrogen-planet with a solar composition and a high level of energy dissipation in its interior.

The motivation, techniques and performance of the ground-based photometric follow-up of transit detections by the CoRoT space mission are presented. Its principal raison d'etre arises from the much higher spatial resolution of common ground-based telescopes in comparison to CoRoT's cameras. This allows the identification of many transit candidates as arising from eclipsing binaries that are contaminating CoRoT's lightcurves, even in low-amplitude transit events that cannot be detected with ground-based obervations. For the ground observations, "on" - "off" photometry is now largely employed, in which only a short timeseries during a transit and a section outside a transit is observed and compared photometrically. CoRoTplanet candidates' transits are being observed by a dedicated team with access to telescopes with sizes ranging from 0.2 to 2 m. As an example, the process that led to the rejection of contaminating eclipsing binaries near the host star of the Super-Earth planet CoRoT-7b is shown. Experiences and techniques from this work may also be useful for other transit-detection experiments, when the discovery instrument obtains data with a relatively low angular resolution.

Context. The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II (BEST II) is a small wide field-of-view photometric survey telescope system located at the Observatorio Cerro Armazones, Chile. The high duty cycle combined with excellent observing conditions and milli-magnitude photometric precision makes this instrument suitable for ground based support observations for the CoRoT space mission.Aims. Photometric data of the CoRoT LRa02 target field collected between November 2008 and March 2009 were analysed for stellar variability. The presented results will help in the future analysis of the CoRoT data, particularly in additional science programs related to variable stars.Methods. BEST II observes selected CoRoT target fields ahead of the space mission. The photometric data acquired are searched for stellar variability, periodic variable stars are identified with time series analysis of the obtained stellar light curves.Results. We obtained the light curves of 104 335 stars in the CoRoT LRa02 field over 41 nights. Variability was detected in light curves of 3726 stars of which 350 showed a regular period. These stars are, with the exception of 5 previously known variable stars, new discoveries.

In this paper, we report on observations of the CoRoT LRa1 field with the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope (BEST). The current paper is part of a series of papers describing the results of our stellar variability survey. The BEST is a small aperture telescope with a wide field of view (FOV). It is dedicated to searching for stellar variability within the target fields of the CoRoT space mission to aid in minimizing false-alarm rates and identify potential targets for additional science. The LRa1 field is CoRoT's second long run field located in the galactic anticenter direction. We observed the LRa1 stellar field on 23 nights between November and March 2005/2006. From 6099 stars marked as variable, 39 were classified as periodic variable stars and 27 of them are within the CoRoT FOV. We also confirmed the variability for four stars listed in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS).

Thueringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg (TLS) has started to operate a small dedicated telescope - the Tautenburg Exoplanet Search Telescope (TEST) - searching for transits of extrasolar planets in photometric time series observations. In a joint effort with the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope (BEST) operated by the Institut fuer Planetenforschung of the Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP), France, two observing sites are used to optimise transit search. Here, we give a short overview of these systems and the data analysis. We describe a software pipeline that we have set up to identify transit events of extrasolar planets and variable stars in time series data from these and other telescopes, and report on some first results.

We report on observations of the COROT IR01 field with the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope ( BEST). BEST is a small- aperture telescope with a wide field of view ( FOV). It is dedicated to searching for variable stars within the target fields of the COROT space mission to aid in minimizing false- alarm rates, and identifying potential targets for additional science. COROT's observational program started in 2007 February, with the "initial run'' field ( IR01) observed for about 2 months. BEST observed this field for 12 nights spread over 3 months in winter 2006. From the total of 30,426 stars observed in the IR01 field, 3769 were marked as suspected variable stars, and 54 of these showed clear periodicity. From these, 19 periodic stars are within the part of the COROT FOV covered in our data set.