1854 - Exoplanet Discovery : From the Cosmos to the Classroom

Author / Creator

AAPT WM21 (2021)

Conferences

AAPT WM21 A2.5 Astrobiology & Exoplanets (2021)

Available as

Online

Summary

We are living in an exciting time for astronomical exploration, with an explosion of exoplanet discoveries from ground and space-based telescopes. Many of these discoveries rely on the transit meth...

We are living in an exciting time for astronomical exploration, with an explosion of exoplanet discoveries from ground and space-based telescopes. Many of these discoveries rely on the transit method-- the search for periodic brightness dips as a planet passes in front of its host star. As part of exoplanet transit searches, NASA space missions such as Kepler, K2, and TESS have returned millions of sequential images of the sky. What many people do not know is that these images are publicly available to all, whether astronomer, educator, or curious student. In this presentation, I will discuss opportunities to participate in the search for exoplanets by viewing and analyzing space telescope data. These include the Planet Hunters citizen science project, as well as open source software for those with basic programming knowledge. I will conclude with examples of discoveries made by students and amateur astronomers.

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