We present 12 new transit light curves of the hot-Jupiter TrES-3b observed during 2012−2018 to probe the transit timing variation (TTV). By combining the midtransit times determined from these 12 transit data with those reestimated through uniform procedure from 71 transit data available in the literature, we derive new linear ephemeris and obtain the timing residuals that suggest the possibility of TTV in the TrES-3 system. However, the frequency analysis shows that the possible TTV is unlikely to be periodic, indicating the absence of an additional body in this system. To explore the other possible origins of TTV, the orbital decay and apsidal precession ephemeris models are fitted to the transit time data. We find the decay rate of TrES-3b to be ms yr−1, and the corresponding estimated modified stellar tidal quality factor of is consistent with the theoretically predicted values for the stars hosting the hot-Jupiters. The shift in the transit arrival time of TrES-3b after 11 years is expected to be T shift ∼ 69.55 s, which is consistent with the rms of the timing residuals. Besides, we find that the apsidal precession ephemeris model is statistically less probable than the other considered ephemeris models. It is also discussed that despite the fact that the linear ephemeris model appears to be the most plausible model to represent the transit time data, the possibility of the orbital decay cannot be completely ruled out in the TrES-3 system. To confirm this, further high-precision and high-cadence follow-up observation of transits of TrES-3b would be important.

Motivated by the unsettled conclusion on whether there are any transit timing variations (TTVs) for the exoplanet Qatar-1b, 10 new transit light curves are presented and a TTV analysis with a baseline of 1400 epochs is performed. Because the linear model provides a good fit with a reduced chi-square of and the false-alarm probabilities of the possible TTV frequencies are as large as 35%, our results are consistent with a null-TTV model. Nevertheless, a new ephemeris with a reference time of T 0 = 2455647.63360 ± 0.00008 (BJD) and a period of P = 1.4200236 ± 0.0000001 (day) is obtained. In addition, the updated orbital semimajor axis and planetary radius in units of stellar radius are provided, and the lower limit of the modified stellar tidal quality factor is also determined.

We present and analyze 58 transit light curves of TrES-3b and 98 transit light curves of Qatar-1b, observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, plus two transit light curves of Qatar-1b, observed by us, using a ground-based 1.23 m telescope. These light curves are combined with the best-quality light curves taken from the Exoplanet Transit Database and the literature. The precisely determined midtransit times from these light curves enable us to obtain the refined orbital ephemerides, with improved precision, for both hot Jupiters. From the timing analysis, we find indications of the presence of transit timing variations (TTVs) in both systems. Since the observed TTVs are unlikely to be short-term and periodic, the possibility of additional planets in orbits close to TrES-3b and Qatar-1b is ruled out. The possible causes of long-term TTVs, such as orbital decay, apsidal precession, the Applegate mechanism, and line-of-sight acceleration, are also examined. However, none of these possibilities are found to explain the observed TTV of TrES-3b. In contrast to this, line-of-sight acceleration appears to be a plausible explanation for the observed TTV of Qatar-1b. In order to confirm these findings, further high-precision transit and radial velocity observations of both systems would be worthwhile.

We perform transit timing variation (TTV) and transmission spectroscopy analyses of the planet HAT-P-37b, which is a hot Jupiter orbiting a G-type star. Nine new transit light curves are obtained and analyzed together with 21 published light curves from the literature. The updated physical parameters of HAT-P-37b are presented. The TTV analyses show a possibility that the system has an additional planet that induced the TTVs amplitude signal of 1.74 ± 0.17 minutes. If the body is located near the 1:2 mean-motion resonance orbit, the sinusoidal TTV signal could be caused by the gravitational interaction of a sub-Earth-mass planet with mass of 0.06 M ⊕. From the analysis of an upper-mass limit for the second planet, a Saturn-mass planet with orbital period less than 6 days is excluded. The broadband transmission spectra of HAT-P-37b favors a cloudy atmospheric model with an outlier spectrum in the B filter.

Considering the importance of investigating the transit timing variations (TTVs) of transiting exoplanets, we present a follow-up study of HAT-P-12b. We include six new light curves observed between 2011 and 2015 from three different observatories, in association with 25 light curves taken from the published literature. The sample of the data used thus covers a time span of ∼ 10.2 years with a large coverage of epochs (1160) for the transiting events of the exoplanet HAT-P-12b. The light curves are utilized to determine the orbital parameters and conduct an investigation of possible TTVs. The new linear ephemeris shows a large value of reduced χ 2, i.e. χ red 2 ( 23 ) = 7.93, and the sinusoidal fitting using the prominent frequency coming from a periodogram shows a reduced χ 2 around 4. Based on these values and the corresponding O – C diagrams, we suspect the presence of a possible non-sinusoidal TTV in this planetary system. Finally, we find that a scenario with an additional non-transiting exoplanet could explain this TTV with an even smaller reduced χ 2 value of around 2.