hello exoplanet citizen scientists across the world!

We at the SETI Institute Unistellar Science Team are excited to bring several winter holiday (2020) exoplanet science targets for our citizen scientists in Europe, Japan, Hawaii and the Americas! These targets are all important “targets of interests” (TOIs) for NASA’s current exoplanet finding mission, TESS, and your observation can help exoplanet scientists better understand these distant worlds.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), currently in operation, is the follow-up to the successful exoplanet Kepler mission. Its goal is to survey most of the sky for close by exoplanets and find the best Earth or super-Earth sized planets for future missions capable of further characterization, such as determining the makeup of their atmospheres and searching for possible biosignatures, which could indicate the presence of life.

Your data could help verify and/or add to a better understanding of this potential exoplanet’s characteristics.

*Successful observers whose data show a transit will be provided with a transit light curve and we may be able to use this data for other research we’re involved with that may possibly result in scientific publications where observers are credited in publication (no promises, but we hope!). 😃

Please be sure to carefully read over the observation directions PDF below if you have never attempted an exoplanet transit with your Unistellar eVscope or need a review. Thank you to Tom and the SETI Institute Unistellar Science Team for help planning these exciting observations!

Please send questions and observing reports to citizenscience@unistellaroptics.com.

Best,

Dan

Europe

We are listing two different transits of the same planet. You should choose one to observe based on your location (see the note next to the date) and whichever date is convenient.

TOI 1636.01 (TIC 269892793.01)
All times are Central European Standard Time (UTC+1)

• Evening of 26 Dec (Sat) - full transit for Western & Southern Europe (other locales may miss the end as the star sets)

  • Start Observing 00:21

  • Stop Observing 03:41

  • low elevation of ~40 deg at start and 20 deg at end

• Evening of 28 Dec (Mon) - full transit for Eastern & Northern Europe (other locales may miss the beginning due to sunset twilight)

  • Start Observing 18:54

  • Stop Observing 22:14

  • good medium elevation of ~60 deg to 55 deg throughout

RA = 02h 57m 10.3s
Dec = 33d 18m 45.6s
Exposure time = 3970 ms
Gain = 32 db

Details: Target star V magnitude = 12.85 | Transit depth = 2.7% | Planet orbital period = 1.8 days
Hot Jupiter around a K star (smaller and cooler than the Sun).

Japan

Same target as Europe (TOI 1636.01) but a single transit on a different day. Exact same coordinates and exposure settings as Europe.

Full transit visible for all of Japan, Asian mainland (as far west as Kathmandu, Nepal).

TOI 1636.01 (same as Europe)
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

• Evening of 30 Dec (Wed)

  • Start Observing 21:33

  • Stop Observing 00:47

  • good medium elevation of ~70 deg to 40 deg at end

RA = 02h 57m 10.3s
Dec = 33d 18m 45.6s
Exposure time = 3970 ms
Gain = 32 db

Details: Target star V magnitude = 12.85 | Transit depth = 2.7% | Planet orbital period = 1.8 days
Hot Jupiter around a K star (smaller and cooler than the Sun).

Hawaii

Same target as Europe and Japan (TOI 1636.01) but different day. It’s on New Year’s Eve and the observation ends just after midnight, FYI.

TOI 1636.01 (same as Europe & Japan)
All times are Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (UTC-10)

• Evening of 31 Dec (Wed)

  • Start Observing 21:00

  • Stop Observing 00:20

  • good medium elevation of ~75 deg to 45 deg at end

RA = 02h 57m 10.3s
Dec = 33d 18m 45.6s
Exposure time = 3970 ms
Gain = 32 db

Details: Target star V magnitude = 12.85 | Transit depth = 2.7% | Planet orbital period = 1.8 days
Hot Jupiter around a K star (smaller and cooler than the Sun).

Americas, East

Full transit visible for USA & Canada CST/EST, Central America, Caribbean, South America (as far east as Brasilia)

TOI 2364.01 (TIC 39414571.01)
All times are U.S. Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5)

• Evening of 26 Dec (Sat)

  • Start Observing 21:30

  • Stop Observing 01:43

  • good elevations all around

RA = 05h 56m 31.2s
Dec = -05d 00m 43.3s
Exposure time = 3970 ms
Gain = 27 db

Details: Target star V magnitude = 12.23 | Transit depth = 1.0% | Planet orbital period = 4.0 days

Americas, West

Full transit visible for USA & Canada PST/MST, Mexico (south to Mexico City)

TOI 1516.01 (TIC 376637093.01)
All times are U.S. Pacific Standard Time (UTC-8)

• Evening of 2 Jan (Sat)

  • Start Observing 17:26

  • Stop Observing 21:46

  • PST observers should start as soon as the sky is dark enough to do a field alignment. Starting science recordings no later than 18:00 is preferred.

RA = 22h 40m 20.3s
Dec = 69d 30m 13.4s
Exposure time = 3970 ms
Gain = 16 db

Details: Target star V magnitude = 10.86 | Transit depth = 1.7% | Planet orbital period = 2.1 days

Finder Charts (look at image captions for target name)

UNISTELLAR eVSCOPE EXOPLANET OBSERVING DIRECTIONS USING OCCULTATION MODE

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE DIRECTIONS, OR VIEW THEM BELOW.