Solar-Like Activity and Planetary Transits

Late-type MS stars display optical variability on different time scales due to the presence of photospheric brightness inhomogeneities produced by surface magnetic fields, analogous to cool spots and bright faculae observed in the Sun. We are developing methods to model the optical variability of main-sequence late-type stars to understand the impact of solar-like activity on the detection of planetary transits and to significantly improve the detection efficiency. Our techniques will also allow to map the longitude distribution of active regions on stars that harbor planets and to look for a possible connection between stellar activity and the presence of planets around a star.