My first detection of an exoplanet (previously known), Stefan Nebl

My first detection of an exoplanet (previously known)

My first detection of an exoplanet (previously known), Stefan Nebl

My first detection of an exoplanet (previously known)

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Description

Not precisely astrophotography, but I still think it's worth a share 🙂

Last night I detected my first (previously known) exoplanet! I did this by the tried-and-true transit method - measuring a characteristic decrease in stellar flux as the exoplanet transits within the line of sight of us and its host star.

By fitting the data to a model we can derive the measured transit duration, beginning, middle, and endpoints, as well as the change in magnitude (dimming). I was pleased to see that my data returned measured values that were more than 90% accurate to the expected values.

The exoplanet I chose is called WASP-19b, it is located around 880 LY away in the constellation Vela. It is a Jupiter-sized planet with an orbital period (year) of less than 19 earth-hours!

This was all surprisingly easy and lots of fun, I highly recommend anyone with an astrophotography setup to give this a go, more than just a fun project, you can submit this to the Exoplanet Transit Database, helping to refine our scientific understanding of exoplanets!

EXPOSURES:

300*30s, Gain 50, T=-15, bin1x1

Exoplanet Transit Database: http://var2.astro.cz/ETD/predictions.php

Light-curve model (O. Pejcha 2008):

http://var2.astro.cz/.../FitProcedureDescription...)

AstroImageJ (used for multi-aperture photometry measurements): https://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/astroimagej/

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My first detection of an exoplanet (previously known), Stefan Nebl