It is very likely that in the near future a large number of extra-solar comets will be detected through occultations. We performed a large set of numerical simulations of stars' occultations by extra-solar comets. The result is the apparent photometric variations of the central stars due to these putative comets. We provide here a database of cometary occultation light curves which is electronically available for the preparation of the coming spatial photometric surveys.
As an example, we used this tool to evaluate the number of cometary occultation which present the same symmetrical properties as the planetary occultation. We find that few percents of the comet occultations could be misinterpreted as due to planets.
Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to R. Ferlet and A. Vidal Madjar for their constant help. I would like to thank J.P. Beaulieu and J. Lissauer for many fruitful discussions.
Copyright The European Southern Observatory (ESO)