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Show content only (no menu, header)Enabling a global network of small robotic cameras for exoplanet transits(... and other fun projects you can think of)Scientific backgroundThe transit technique
The transit technique is the most accessible way to discover exoplanets: when the planet passes in front of its star, the star appears to dim, as some of its light is blocked by the planet (stars and exoplanets are too small to see image the transit, so only to the total flux is measured). The dimming can be large (about one percent for a Jupiter-like planet), so it can be measured using relatively inexpensive equipment that amateur astronomers and schools can afford. By measuring how much and how often the star dims, the planet size and distance from the star can be estimated. ChallengesDiscovering exoplanets by the transit method is however still challenging because the odds are small to observe such an event when looking at a single star: the planet orbit alignment has to be right (for most planet/star systems, the planet never passes in front of the star, but goes "around" it), and the transit does not last very long and may not repeat very frequently. The key to beat the small odds is to monitor, as continuously as possible, a very large number of stars. Why use very small cameras ?Most telescopes used by professional astronomers are very inefficient for discovering planets with the transit method, because their field of view is very small. Astronomers have built wide field telescopes to address this challenge, such as the Kepler space telescope. But even Kepler's wide field camera only covers 0.28 percent of the sky. Several other projects are using smaller telescopes with wider field of view (for example HATnet, WASP), therefore covering more sky area at a reduced precision to identify a large number of giant planets. This later approach is the one we adopt, because low-cost hardware available to amateur astronomers and schools is very well suited for this project. Project GoalsOur goal is to establish a global network of robotic cameras, run by amateur astronomers and schools, to discover exoplanets with the transit technique. To do this, our group, composed of professional and amateur astronomers, addresses the following challenges:
Hardware: How to build low-cost reliable small robotic cameras ?
Software Efficient discovery of exoplanet transit requires the multiple robotic cameras to coordinate observations (monitoring a few fields as continuously as possible). Data analysis also needs to be coordinated, as recovery of exoplanet signals comes from putting together measurements taken over a long time span from different geographical locations. We coordinate observations between sites, coordinate data storage and analysis, as well as future development (for example, where to install new cameras ? which new fields should be monitored ?) What do we mean by "small camera" ?Since our goal is to cover a large fraction of the sky, the systems use camera lenses. The lenses can be mounted on a DSLR camera or a CCD, and can be stationary or tracking. Examples, from the simplest/lowest cost to the most advanced, are:
How can you participate ?Join our group (we will set up a website shortly), and participate in any way you wish, according to your area of expertise and/or taste. You can build a robotic camera yourself (and improve our design), explore new hardware solutions, write/improve software, come up with a new idea to use the robotic cameras, get other amateur astronomers to join, analyze existing images, etc ...Project statusWe have been operating a prototype DSLR-based system since late 2010, on Mauna Loa observatory, to identify and solve the main technical challenges. We are now building a few more additional cameras.Page content last updated: 27/06/2023 06:35:52 HST html file generated 27/06/2023 06:34:43 HST |
