POSSIBLE TRANSIT TIMING VARIATIONS OF THE TrES-3 PLANETARY SYSTEM

Abstract

Five newly observed transit light curves of the TrES-3 planetary system are presented. Together with other light curve data from literature, 23 transit light curves in total, which cover an overall timescale of 911 epochs, have been analyzed through a standard procedure. From these observational data, the system's orbital parameters are determined and possible transit timing variations are investigated. Given that a null transit-timing-variation produces a fit with reduced chi^2=1.52, our results agree with previous work, that transit timing variations might not exist in these data. However, a 1-frequency oscillating transit-timing-variation model, giving a fit with a reduced chi^2=0.93, does possess a statistically higher probability. It is, thus, concluded that future observations and dynamical simulations for this planetary system will be very important.