Confirm Super-Jupiter Exoplanet Around KOI-375 with Your Unistellar eVscope!
Artist rendition of the young Jupiter-like exoplanet 51 Eridani b (possibly similar to the planet we expect to detect). Credit: Danielle Futselaar and Franck Marchis/SETI Institute/Gemini Planet Imager. From Scientific American article.
Dear CITIZEN SCIENTIST astronomers,
We have a very exciting exoplanet target for you to observe on Friday, June 26, 2020 (USA time zones) from sunset to sunrise in the east coast and until 2:30 am from California. This stellar target, KOI 375, is expected to have a transiting exoplanet—we call it KOI 375.01, the .01 being the first expected planet in the system. However, KOI 375.01 has not yet been confirmed and YOU can help us confirm this exciting exoplanet candidate!
Video 1: If successful, we’ll detect a planet with the transit method, which detects planets by looking for the dip in brightness of the star over time. The expected dip in the brightness of star, KOI 375, is only 0.5%!
KOI stands for “Kepler object of interest”, and KOI targets, such as KOI 375.01, were observed by the famous and successful exoplanet hunting NASA spacecraft, the Kepler space telescope. However, KOIs need to be followed-up with additional observations in order to confirm that it is in fact a planet and so we can better understand it—that’s where you come in!
The target, KOI 375, is expected to have a long-period super-Jupiter orbiting around it (KOI 375.01) with an estimated orbital period of 988.9 days (~2.7 years)! It’s long-period because it is expected to take 2.7 years to orbit its star! It’s a “super” Jupiter because previous measurements from the radial velocity (RV) method estimate a minimum mass of 4 to 5 times that of Jupiter!
With our Unistellar eVscopes, we’ll be trying to detect KOI 375.01 via the transit method (see Video1). Getting a good transit will help us to better estimate the mass as it will tell us the orbital inclination (the angle the planet’s orbit is from our perspective), which is not well known with the RV method. The transit will also tell us the size of the planet, which will allow us to calculate its density .
“Although astronomers have confirmed thousands of transiting exoplanets, fewer than 10 have orbital periods as long as KOI 375.01! Confirming this potential planet as a genuine world would add it to an exceptionally rare and small group of exoplanets”
-Paul dalba, uc riverside
A great majority of exoplanets confirmed to date have much shorter periods (see Figure 1), so if we are successful in confirming a long-period exoplanet around KOI 375 we are like cartographers adding new territory to the map of planetary discoveries in the Milky Way Galaxy! Put that on your resume or social media profile! 😉
Figure 1: Census of discovered exoplanets as of 2015. Notice the vast majority of planets are short period. From 2015 Eos article, J. Lissauer.
Exoplanet searches usually require elaborate setups, lots of study, maybe a fancy degree, and a sky mostly free of light pollution, but with new technologies, such as with the Unistellar eVscope and the citizen science network we are developing in coordination with the SETI Institute that is no longer the case!
Check out these press releases on the Unistellar Exoplanet Citizen Science Network:
Unistellar Consumer Telescope Will Help Astronomers Probe Exoplanets
(announcement)
and
Detecting Exoplanets and Asteroids: First Citizen Science Successes for Backyard Astronomy
(1st major success)
It is so amazing to me that exoplanet discovery has been done mostly through the use of expensive remote telescopes and highly technical techniques, but now, you and your eVscope can observe exoplanets with a few clicks on your smartphone and some time.
Huge thanks to exoplanetary master of ceremonies, Paul Dalba, PhD Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Riverside for suggesting and helping to organize this high scientific value target, as well as Franck Marchis and Tom Esposito at the SETI Institute!
If you are able to help us observe KOI 375.01, then check out the directions for how to do this with your eVscope below. Also, please join this special KOI 375 mission-specific SLACK channel by clicking HERE to ask questions and receive important updates related to this observation call. You can also email us at citizenscience@unistellaroptics.com.
Cheers,
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
Important KOI 375.01 Observation Notes:
Okay Unistellar citizen astronomers, after you read the PDF directions directly above, please keep the following in mind about the observation information below.
Times below are based on general time zones (EDT, CDT, MDT, and PDT)
Everyone will be observing the transit, but not everyone will be able to observe the entirety of the transit because or our pesky Sun/atmosphere. Thus, we will combine the data from observers across the US so we can get the entire transit and achieve greatest chance of scientific success.
US east coast observers: You will see the beginning of transit, but may not be able to see the very end because of twilight right before sunrise. Observe until you can!
All other US time zone observers: You will not be able to view the very beginning of the transit since the sky will still be too bright (sun not set or twilight). The start times for CDT, MDT, and PDT are estimated based off the noted city’s “Nautical Twilight” start time (when it should be dark enough for you to use your eVscope, but note it may be a bit later).
For more exact nautical start times, visit https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/usa.
CDT, MDT, PDT OBSERVER SUMMARY: you should plan to set up right before sunset and start observing as soon as you possibly can!
Fellow Unistellar exoplanet citizen scientist, Todd Duncan, shared this FOV (field of view) of Friday’s KOI375 target. Please reference this to make sure you have the target near center of FOV like in his example. Thanks Todd!
One science goal for my PhD is to use Unistellar eVscopes to find Baby Yoda! Hopefully Mando is nice when we find him. Lucasfilm/Walt Disney Pictures via Disney+