Matthew Kenworthy

I say upsilon Andromedae d, you say epsilon Eridani b: two papers on direct imaging exoring detection with the Roman space telescope by Lane et al. and Hasler et al. - rings can boost the reflected light signal by a factor > 3, and light curve senses the ring geometry! #astrodon #exoplanets

Figure 3 from Lane et al. showing how a Saturn-like planet with rings is illuminated by a star, and the resulting reflected light is imprinted on the light curve, which is markedly different depending on how tilted the rings are. Figure 11 from Hasler et al. Showing images of Saturn's rings in illumination and the resultant light curves underneath. The effect of illuminated rings boosts the flux from the planet.