Transit Searches for Extrasolar Planets: Properties, Pitfalls, Payoffs, and Promises

Dr. Scott Gaudi (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

Over the next decade, searches for extrasolar planets using the transit method will likely prove invaluable in testing theories of the formation and evolution of planetary systems. I review the landscape of transit searches for extrasolar planets, highlighting some of their basic properties, primary obstacles, important results, and future prospects. I discuss results from deep surveys targeting Galactic disk stars and stars in rich open clusters. I then speculate on the future prospects for transit searches, in particular the search for "Hot Neptunes" and "Hot Earths" from the ground, and habitable terrestrial planets from space.