Detecting Exoplanets with the Unistellar eVscope
Dear CITIZEN SCIENTISTS,
I am doing my PhD in astrophysics with Franck Marchis (astronomer at the SETI Institute) and as a portion of my research I want to see if it is possible for any astronomy enthusiast around the world to coordinate with planet hunting scientists like us to help contribute to the search for planets around other stars (a.k.a. exoplanets).
Exoplanet searches usually require elaborate setups, lots of study, maybe a fancy degree, and a sky mostly free of light pollution. With new technologies, such as with the new Unistellar eVscope and the citizen science network we are developing in coordination with the SETI Institute that is no longer the case!
Check out the article, Unistellar Consumer Telescope Will Help Astronomers Probe Exoplanets.
This is amazing—if you have a Unistellar eVscope, you have the technology to detect planets orbiting other stars! Think about this–over 30 years ago planets around other stars (exoplanets) were hypothesized, but none yet were detected. Since the most agreed upon “first detection” of an exoplanet in 1992 around a pulsar, astronomers have detected thousands of exoplanets, and it is expected that the majority of all stars in the universe have exoplanets! However, exoplanet discovery has been done mostly through the use of expensive remote telescopes and highly technical techniques. Now, you and your eVscope can observe exoplanets with a few clicks on your smartphone and some time.
I’ve been posting exoplanet targets for eVscope users over at the SETI Institute’s Cosmic Diary to try and observe for the past few months. As I mentioned, this is a pilot citizen science program for exoplanet detections that I am working on for my PhD. The eVscope had already proven successful in observing an exoplanet before I started my PhD work this year, however, we have been trying to improve upon its capabilities by experimenting with new settings. My colleague, Tom Esposito, a researcher with the SETI Institute, has been helping me with this project and he was successful in the observation of TESS TOI (target of interest) 656.01, a.k.a. WASP-43b with the new settings we developed. Check it out and great job Tom!
Figure 1. Detection of exoplanet, WASP-43b (TESS TOI 656.01) with a Unistellar eVscope. Observation taken from Richmond, California by Tom Esposito on 2020 March 27. Data analysis/figure also by Tom.
Figure 1 is an example “light curve” showing an exoplanet transit detection with an eVscope! On 2020 March 27, Tom observed the star WASP-43 and detected its planet “b”, which is a gas giant with about two times the mass of Jupiter and an orbital period of only 0.8 days. The observation was made from his semi-urban back yard in Richmond, CA, US (on San Francisco Bay; Bortle class 7/8) on a clear night over the course of ~3 hours. The transit occurred between the dotted vertical lines, where the flux (i.e., brightness) of WASP-43 decreased by about 3% compared to another nearby “reference” star while the planet blocked some of the starlight. This is a solid detection but the shown light curve is still preliminary (for example, we see artificial up-and-down wiggles due to the way we are measuring the fluxes of the stars in this analysis).
Exoplanet detections like this are what your observations this weekend are for! You too can get an exoplanet light curve to detect another planet and contribute to this amazing citizen science initiative.
Check out the directions and targets below, if are able to help us observe this weekend.
Sincerely,
Dan
Unistellar eVscope Exoplanet Observing Directions Using Occultation Mode
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE DIRECTIONS, OR VIEW THEM BELOW IN THE SCRIBD VIEWER
USA Target: Best viewed from western United States, but possible in the *east.
WEDNESDAY, April 15, 2020
Exoplanet Observation Target —> WASP-183 b
*Only half of transit visible east of ~Kentucky.
Date of observation:
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Observation Start/End Time:
8:41 pm – 12:06 am, Pacific Standard Time
IMPORTANT: PLEASE CHECK THE WEATHER so if you leave your eVscope out it is not damaged by rain/snow!!!
Target:
WASP-183
Additional details: V=12.7, Depth (ppt) = 22.6.
We hope to detect the exoplanet, WASP-183 b
Celestial Coordinates:
Right Ascension (RA) –> 10:55:09.36
Declination (Dec) –> -00:44:13.7
*Don’t forget the “-” sign for your Dec.!
Additional Target Information:
Constellation: Between Leo and Sextans
Direction: SE
Elevation at Start/Mid/End of Transit: 47°/51°/51°
eVscope Settings:
Exposure: 3950 ms
Gain: 30 db
FOV Finder Chart:
WASP-183, 2020-04-15 finder chart.The target is either at the red cross or the reticle—just be sure that general area is centered on you eVscope FOV. Note this finder chart is for what the FOV should look like at 20:40 PDT on 2020-04-15.
This is our new science goal for my PhD to use Unistellar eVscopes to find Baby Yoda! Lucasfilm/Walt Disney Pictures via Disney+